JTION 

WENT 


IRRIGATION 
MANAGEMENT 


THE  OPERATION,  MAINTENANCE  AND 
BETTERMENT  OF  WORKS  FOR  BRING- 
ING WATER  TO  AGRICULTURAL  LANDS 


BY 

FREDERICK  HAYNES  IsTEWELL 

PROFESSOR  OF  CIVIL  ENGINEERING,  UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS; 
FORMER    DIRECTOR,    UNITED  STATES   RECLAMATION    SERVICE 


D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  LONDON 

1916 


COPYRIGHT,  1916,  BY 
D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


PREFACE 

THE  irrigation  manager  and  his  assistants  are  com- 
ing to  be  appreciated  more  and  more  as  important 
factors  in  the  successful  growth  of  agriculture  in  the 
western  part  of  the  United  States.  Within  the  past  few 
years  innumerable  irrigating  canals,  big  and  little,  have 
been  built,  bringing  water  to  many  millions  of  acres, 
In  planning  these  enterprises  the  chief  thought  and 
effort  of  those  concerned  was  to  build  works  to  bring 
water  to  more  lands.  It  was  assumed  that,  when  this 
was  done,  the  areas  thus  reclaimed  would  be  quickly 
utilized  and  that  there  would  rapidly  grow  up  a  pros- 
perous and  contented  population.  This  happy  condi- 
tion has  not  followed;  we  are  beginning  to  see  that 
the  planning  and  building  of  irrigation  works  is  only 
the  beginning;  possibly  it  is  the  easiest  part  of  the 
problem  of  conservation  and  use  of  the  resources  of 
the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions.  The  really  difficult  and 
at  times  discouraging  work  is  that  of  properly  util- 
izing the  irrigation  systems  after  they  are  built  and  of 
getting  fair  returns  from  the  irrigated  lands. 

Thousands  of  intelligent,  active  men  are  concerned 
more  or  less  directly  in  those  operations  having  to  do 
with  the  obtaining  and  distribution  of  water  to  the 
agricultural  lands.  During  the  past  few  years  some 
of  the  more  progressive  of  these  men  have  been  im- 
pressed with  the  necessity  of  getting  together  and  talk- 


340600 


PREFACE 

ing  over  the  problems  of  common  interest.  They  have 
held  conferences  at  various  central  points  in  the  arid 
states  and  have  met  usually  during  the  winter  season 
to  consider  methods  of  overcoming  difficulties.  They 
have  found  that  there  is  more  or  less  similarity  in  the 
problems  and  that  decided  benefits  come  from  the  ex- 
change of  experience. 

Among  the  leaders  in  this  dissemination  of  ideas  have 
been  some  of  the  principal  men  employed  by  the  gov- 
ernment in  carrying  out  the  terms  of  the  Reclamation 
Act  in  the  construction  and  operation  of  large  irri- 
gation systems.  Twenty-five  or  more  of  these  projects 
having  been  distributed  throughout  the  various  western 
states,  there  has  arisen  the  necessity  of  devising  more 
or  less  uniformity  of  method.  Because  of  the  mag- 
nitude and  wide  distribution  of  the  Reclamation  Works, 
the  methods  determined  upon  at  these  conferences  and 
the  precedents  set  by  the  Reclamation  Service  have 
been  adopted,  in  more  or  less  modified  form,  by  the 
managers  of  large  private  works. 

This  little  book  is  the  outgrowth  of  these  conferences 
as  well  as  of  many  conversations,  public  discussions 
and  innumerable  communications  from  irrigation  man- 
agers in  public  and  private  employ.  It  is  an  attempt 
to  bring  together  in  concise  form  the  results  of  much 
of  this  matter  and  to  answer  many  of  the  questions 
which  are  constantly  being  asked  by  irrigation  man- 
agers, their  assistants,  and  others  connected  with  the 
works.  These  questions  come  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
They  show  that  there  is  a  growing  interest  in  the  sub- 
ject and  that  an  effort  is  being  made  to  bring  about  a 
larger  degree  of  efficiency  and  economy  than  has  existed 
in  the  past. 

vi 


PREFACE 

The  general  subject  of  irrigation  and  of  the 
methods  of  construction  are  not  herein  discussed,  having 
been  covered  in  part  by  previously  issued  books  (" Irri- 
gation," by  Newell,  and  "  Principles  of  Irrigation  Engi- 
neering," by  Newell  and  Murphy),  to  which  the  following 
pages  may  be  considered  as  an  appendix  or  a  discussion 
from  a  broader  standpoint.  There  are  also  now  avail- 
able an  ever  increasing  number  of  excellent  books  on 
the  details  of  engineering  practice  as  applied  to  irri- 
gation, the  more  purely  technical  side  of  the  subject 
having  attracted  considerable  attention. 

In  the  preparation  of  statements  given  in  the  follow- 
ing chapters  free  use  has  been  made  of  informal  reports 
of  the  United  States  Reclamation  Service  and  of  ideas 
contained  in  many  memoranda  and  letters.  It  has 
not  been  possible  to  give  full  credit  to  the  original 
sources  or  to  mention  by  name  the  men  who  have  orig- 
inated many  of  these  ideas.  These  have  rapidly  passed 
into  the  body  of  common  knowledge  and  have  been 
freely  appropriated  by  all  who  have  considered  the 
subject.  However,  particular  appreciation  should  be 
expressed  of  the  assistance  rendered  from  time  to  time 
by  Arthur  P.  Davis,  chief  engineer;  F.  W.  Hanna, 
supervising  engineer;  D.  W.  Murphy,  drainage  engineer, 
upon  whom  the  writer  has  called  most  frequently  for 
aid,  and  many  others  connected  with  the  Reclamation 
Service.  To  enumerate  all  of  them  would  be  to  give 
a  list  of  the  working  force  of  that  organization. 

Reference  should  be  made  to  the  "  Use  Book  "  of 
the  Reclamation  Service,  which  gives  in  more  elaborate 
form  some  of  the  details  here  presented.  In  fact,  the 
"  Use  Book  "  and  the  principal  part  of  the  present 
discussion  were  prepared  at  the  same  time,  and  each 

vii 


PREFACE 

to  a  certain  extent  supplements  the  other.  Many  of 
those  who  have  occasion  to  consult  this  volume  will 
recognize  familiar  phrases  or  suggestions  which  they 
themselves  may  have  made  in  their  letters. 

The  early  chapters  of  this  book  were  prepared  as 
separate  articles  and  printed  in  substance  at  least  in 
various  engineering  publications,  notably  Engineering 
Record,  Western  Engineering,  Journal  of  Electricity,  Power 
and  Gas,  Water  Power  Chronicle,  and  Pacific  Builder  and 
Engineer.  The  cordial  reception  accorded  these  separate 
articles  encouraged  the  effort  to  round  them  out  and 
present  the  ideas  in  consecutive  and  more  easily  acces- 
sible shape.  At  this  time  it  is  desired  to  express  appre- 
ciation of  the  courtesy  of  the  editors  of  these  periodicals 
in  permitting  the  use  of  this  material  in  book  form. 

F.  H.  N. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEB  PAGE 

I. — THE  PROBLEMS 1 

Purpose.  Early  trials.  Physical  limitations.  Human 
conditions.  Management  as  a  profession.  Courses  of 
instruction.  Efficiency  and  economy.  Use  of  terms. 
Units. 

II. — THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS 1 

Environment.  Comparison  of  systems.  Structural 
restrictions. 

III. — THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT 31 

Pioneers.  Selecting  the  farmer.  Time  needed  for 
settlement.  Lack  of  experience.  Need  of  capital. 
Incompetents.  Shifting  of  population.  Community 
co-operation.  Success  is  gradual.  Encouragement  of 
new  men.  Diffusing  information. 

IV.— THE  LEGAL  SIDE 46 

Importance  of  general  knowledge.  Water  rights. 
Beneficial  use.  Economical  use.  Rights  of  way. 
Desert  Land  Act.  Carey  Act.  Reclamation  Act. 
Cultivation  requirements.  Residence  requirements. 
Size  of  farm  units.  Unlawful  diversion  of  water. 

V. — OPERATION  ORGANIZATION 63 

Requirements.    Operating   force.    Size   of   operating 
force.    Qualifications  of  canal  riders.     Duties  of  canal 
riders.    Houses  and  equipment.    Telephone  system. 
Manager's  duties.    Relations  with  water  users. 
ix 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

VI. — METHODS  OF  OPERATION 79 

Delivery  of  water.  Preparation  of  fields.  Farm  boxes. 
Operating  laterals.  Measuring  devices. 

VII. — RECORDS  AND  SCHEDULES 102 

Need  of  system.    Character  of  records:   Application 
for   water.    Daily   schedules.    Canal   riders'    records. 
Checking    records.    Watermasters'    records.    General 
records. 

VIII.— WATER  ECONOMY 118 

Prevention  of  losses.    Canal  losses.    Waste  water. 

IX. — MAINTENANCE 141 

Definitions.  Betterments.  Repairs  to  canals  and 
laterals.  Cleaning.  Repairs  of  structure.  Protection 
of  sandy  banks. 

X. — EXPENDITURES,  RECORDING  AND  CLASSIFYING    .       .166 
Ways  of  classifying.     Operation  and  maintenance  dis- 
tinctions. 

XI. — RECEIPTS  AND  VALUES 190 

Repayment  of  building  cost.  Payment  of  operation 
and  maintenance  costs.  Carrying  or  rental  charge. 
Collection  methods'.  Valuation. 

XII. — THE  IRRIGATOR  AND  His  ASSOCIATIONS    .       .       .  208 
Irrigator's  success.     Pioneering.    Land  poverty.     New 
projects.     The  farmer's  home.     Organizations.     Farm 
management.      Disillusion.      Education.      Irrigation 
suggestions. 

XIII. — METHODS  OF  APPLYING  WATER        ....  236 
Variation  in  practice.      Leveling  the  land.     Size  of 
irrigation    head.     Measuring    the    fields.     Sub-irriga- 
tion.   Caring  for  waste  water.     Late  fall  irrigation. 
x 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XIV.— THE  PRODUCTS 259 

Crop  to  be  studied.  Relative  value  of  irrigated 
crops.  Profit.  Specialization.  Deterioration.  Re- 
duce waste.  Experimental  farm.  Demonstration 
farms.  Agricultural  experts.  Fertilizers.  Cattle  on 
the  farm.  Crop  reports. 

XV.— CONCLUSIONS 286 

Financial  conditions  of  irrigation  systems.  Transfer 
of  control.  Arousing  a  social  conscience.  Too  much 
land.  Better  markets.  Rural  credit.  Results  under 
good  management. 

INDEX  .  301 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Roosevelt  Dam,  Arizona Frontispiece 


PAGE 


The  desert  before  irrigation 34 

The  desert  after  water  has  been  applied 34 

Immigrant  settlers  "ready  to  make  the  desert  blossom"  .  .  60 

Settler's  home  and  crop 60 

Concrete  and  steel  headgates  in  earth  canal,  permitting 

regulation  of  water 90 

Farmer's  wooden  headgate 90 

Wooden  headgate  of  lateral  with  brush  bank  protection.  .  .  150 

Betterment  of  main  canal 150 

Old  diversion  dam  in  Milk  River,  Montana 176 

Recent  concrete  dam,  Boise  River,  Idaho 176 

Metal  flume  for  conveying  water  across  depression  in 

Boise  project,  Idaho 204 

Concrete  flume  on  interestate  canal  across  Spring  Canyon, 

eastern  Wyoming 204 

Wooden  measuring  weir  in  lateral  canal,  Williston,  North 

Dakota 242 

Irrigating  sugar  beets  by  means  of  furrows 242 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

CHAPTER  I 
THE   PROBLEMS 

A  PROSPEROUS,  intelligent  and  contented  rural  popu- 
lation is  essential  to  our  national  perpetuity.  This  is 
the  lesson  which  history  is  teaching  in  all  parts  of  the 
world.  The  opportunities  for  such  a  population  are 
widely  scattered,  but  are  found  particularly  attractive 
in  the  arid  regions.  Under  conditions  of  good  irrigation 
management  or  water  service,  it  is  possible  to  attain 
there  more  nearly  ideal  conditions  than  in  the  humid 
regions  where  the  farmer  is  more  largely  dependent 
upon  chance  in  the  way  of  adequate  rainfall.  It  is 
possible  by  good  management  in  an  irrigated  country 
to  increase  the  income  of  the  farm  from  two-  to  three- 
fold above  that  of  similar  land  elsewhere;  to  double 
the  crop  on  the  acre  while  reducing  the  cost.  The  basis 
of  this  better  rural  life  is  the  greater  earning  capacity 
of  the  irrigator  over  that  of  the  ordinary  farmer,  due 
to  his  ability  to  control  more  largely  the  factors  of 
success. 

PURPOSE 

The  management  of  an  irrigation  system  has  for  its 
purpose  the  delivery  of  water  to  agricultural  lands  at 
such  times  and  in  such  quantities  as  will  enable  the 
irrigator  to  produce  the  largest  and  best  crops.  The 

1 


...  ...„"  IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

success  of  the  manager  is  measured  largely  by  the  success 
of  the  farmer.  The  proper  management  of  irrigation 
works  necessitates  a  skill  and  experience  as  complete 
as  that  required  for  a  railroad  system,  city  water- 
works, or  a  gas  and  electric-light  system.  The  irrigation 
manager  should  have  had  years  of  practical  experience 
not  only  in  the  construction  of  the  works,  but  more 
particularly  in  those. matters  which  have  to  do  with  the 
distributing  of  water  to  the  farmers,  and  with  the  details 
of  agricultural  operations. 

After  an  irrigation  system  is  built  or  when  it  reaches 
a  degree  of  completion  where  water  is  available  for  any 
considerable  area  of  the  land,  then  begin  the  problems 
of  management.  These  continue  for  generations,  or  as 
long  as  agriculture  is  practiced  by  the  use  of  these  works. 
At  first  the  difficulties  are  great,  but,  as  time  goes  on, 
certain  practices  become  fixed  and  the  vexing  questions 
gradually  subside  into  routine  details. 

At  the  outset  the  man  in  charge  of  the  operation  and 
maintenance  of  the  completed  portions  of  the  irrigation 
system  is  confronted  with  a  variety  of  problems  in  the 
solution  of  which  there  are  no  well-established  precedents. 
He  must  trust  largely  to  his  own  judgment,  and  to 
such  experience  as  he  may  have  had,  verified  as  far  as 
possible  by  a  knowledge  of  what  has  been  done  by 
other  men.  He  needs  to  know  something  of  the  experi- 
ence of  others.  To  fill  such  need  in  part  this  book  has 
been  written. 

EARLY  TRIALS 

At  the  initiation  of  the  undertaking,  the  manager 
has  not  only  his  own  problems  of  a  new  system  and 
of  establishing  desirable  precedents,  but  his  work  is 


THE  PROBLEMS 

greatly  complicated  by  the  fact  that  most  of  the  men 
with  whom  he  deals,  viz.,  the  water  users,  are  novices 
unskilled  in  irrigation.  The  land  has  not  been  leveled 
nor  made  ready  for  economical  irrigation;  everyone 
concerned  is  working  under  the  greatest  of  disadvantages. 
The  irrigators  as  a  body  are  not  only  inexperienced, 
out  many  of  them  are  disappointed  in  that  they  have 
expected  easier  things.  Thus  they  do  not  always  appre- 
ciate the  efforts  made  in  their  behalf.  There  has  been 
attracted  to  the  locality  a  considerable  number  of  men 
who  have  never  made  a  success  elsewhere;  these  attribute 
their  failure  to  make  good  under  the  new  conditions  not 
to  their  own  inability,  but  largely  to  the  faults  of  the 
country  or  of  the  system.  Hence  it  happens  that  with 
the  beginning  of  the  operation  and  maintenance  of  an 
irrigation  system,  the  most  vexing  of  problems  arise, 
and  at  such  times  there  is  the  greatest  need  of  patience 
and  tact,  joined  with  experience  and  skill. 

PHYSICAL  LIMITATIONS 

The  opportunites  and  limitations  of  irrigation  manage- 
ment may  be  classified  under  two  principal  heads,  first 
the  physical,  which  grows  out  of  the  geographical  posi- 
tion, character  of  the  soil,  climate,  topography  and 
water  supply;  and  second,  the  human  or  social — the 
relation  of  the  irrigators  to  each  other  and  to  the  man- 
agement. The  physical  conditions  are  susceptible  of 
systematic  study  and  the  result  may  be  accurately 
recorded.  The  human  are  variable  and  are  by  far  more 
difficult,  being  almost  unfathomable  in  their  complexity. 

As  illustrating  the  magnitude  of  the  physical  forces 
with  which  managers  must  deal,  attention  may  be  called 

3 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

to  a  single  one  of  the  larger  irrigation  projects  of  the 
West,  that  in  southern  Arizona.  This  depends  for  its 
success  upon  the  Roosevelt  Dam,  one  of  the  largest 
masonry  structures  built  by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment. A  view  of  this  is  given  in  the  frontispiece  as  an 
introduction  to  irrigation  management.  This  may  be 
considered  appropriate,  not  only  from  the  magnitude  of 
the  work,  but  also  because  Theodore  Roosevelt  by  his 
personal  interest  and  devotion  made  possible  much  of  the 
present  work  and  opportunity  of  the  irrigation  manager. 
The  man  who  is  in  direct  and  responsible  charge  of 
a  great  structure  of  this  kind  must  necessarily  be  im- 
pressed with  the  trust  imposed  upon  him  as  guardian 
of  the  welfare  of  thousands  of  people;  more  than  this, 
he  must  have  such  confidence,  based  upon  experience, 
as  to  be  able  to  direct  without  hesitation  the  work 
connected,  not  only  with  the  storage  of  great  and  sudden 
floods  which  come  down  the  river,  but  also  the  turning 
out  of  the  stored  water  from  time  to  time  as  needed, 
and  the  utilization  of  the  water  not  only  in  agriculture 
upon  the  fields  below,  but  in  the  manufacture  and  sale 
of  electrical  power.  In  short,  the  manager  must  not 
merely  be  a  good  business  man,  he  must  possess  a  wide 
knowledge  of  the  various  branches  of  engineering,  em- 
bracing hydraulics  and  hydro-electrics,  as  well  as  the 
broader  principles  of  civil  engineering,  in  order  to  meet 
and  overcome  the  physical  complications. 

HUMAN  CONDITIONS 

Irrigation  enterprises  as  a  rule  have  been  considered 
mainly  from  the  physical  or  engineering  side.  The 
promoters,  more  concerned  with  irrigation  developments, 

4 


THE  PROBLEMS 

have  approached  the  subject  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  details  of  building  the  works.  They  have  had  in 
mind  almost  exclusively  those  conditions  which  pertain 
to  questions  of  cost,  water  supply,  legal  complications 
and  related  factors.  It  has  been  a  matter  of  surprise 
to  them  to  discover,  after  the  works  are  built  and  are 
in  condition  for  operation,  that  the  real  elements  of 
success  are  those  more  dependent  upon  proper  relations 
with  the  farmers  and  with  the  soil  than  those  upon 
the  works  themselves.  It  is,  of  course,  appreciated  that 
for  success  the  works  must  be  well  planned  and  executed, 
but  even  when  this  is  done  the  owners  of  the  irrigation 
system  find  that  instead  of  having  passed  through  the 
most  difficult  stage  of  progress,  they  are  just  entering 
upon  it. 

Closely  joined  with  the  purely  human  or  sociological 
elements  and  relationships  with  the  farmers  are  the 
intricate  questions  of  agricultural  practice,  the  relations 
of  plant  growth  to  water  supply,  temperature,  and  other 
limiting  conditions. 

Most  of  the  physical  conditions  are  practically  fixed; 
that  is  to  say,  the  works  themselves  when  built  cannot 
be  moved  or  modified  excepting  to  a  limited  extent. 
Whatever  advantages  or  disadvantages  they  then  possess 
are  beyond  radical  modification  by  the  management. 
But  the  biological  or  agricultural  side,  the  production 
of  plants  and  farm  animals,  the  relations  with  the 
farmers,  their  degrees  of  skill,  all  of  these  are  constantly 
fluctuating,  are  capable  of  wide  modification  and  come 
within  the  range  of  the  activities  of  the  manager  and 
his  assistants  either  to  influence  directly  or  more  often 
to  modify  indirectly. 

This  indirect  influence  which  the  manager  can  bring 

5 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

upon  the  irrigators  and  their  success  as  farmers,  is 
one  of  the  most  far-reaching  and  at  the  same  time  most 
delicate  of  problems.  If  the  manager  is  a  capable, 
energetic  man,  eager  to  see  things  move  forward,  he 
is  constantly  tempted  to  take  a  strong  hand,  with  the 
result  that  he  soon  finds  that  he  is  practically  doing 
the  work  alone.  He  is  thinking  for  the  community, 
suggesting  and  advising,  and  may  suddenly  awake  to 
the  fact  that  the  energies  of  other  individuals  who 
might  have  been  taking  the  lead  in  these  matters  are 
expended  largely  in  other  less  useful  directions.  In  short, 
he  may  discover  that  his  very  desire  to  be  of  assistance 
has  resulted  in  demoralizing  the  community  and  de- 
priving it  of  the  incentive  to  self-help. 

On  the  other  hand,  seeing  clearly  what  should  be 
done,  if  the  manager  has  a  sufficiently  diplomatic  turn 
of  mind,  he  may  be  able  to  stimulate  other  men  to 
take  up  these  ideas  as  their  own,  so  that  they  may 
push  them  forward  with  the  enthusiasm  which  comes 
from  belief  in  one's  own  authorship  of  an  idea.  It 
requires  considerable  self-restraint  for  an  energetic  and 
capable  manager  to  keep  in  the  background,  and  to 
see  other  men  get  the  credit  for  initiating  and  leading 
in  the  progress  for  better  things,  but  in  the  outcome  it 
is  far  more  important  for  the  community  that  this  be 
done  than  to  assume  or  accept  leadership  in  the  activ- 
ities which  do  not  directly  pertain  to  the  management 
of  the  irrigation  system. 

MANAGEMENT  AS  A  PROFESSION 

The  manager  of  a  large  irrigation  system  has  as  great 
a  variety  of  problems  as  the  manager  of  any  large  com- 
mercial enterprise,  such  as  those  of  a  railroad  or  of  a 

6 


THE  PROBLEMS 

manufacturing  establishment.  He  must  have  dealings 
with  large  numbers  of  employees  and  with  his  customers 
and  the  public  in  general.  There  is  required  for  success 
not  only  certain  qualities  of  mind,  such  as  are  included 
under  the  terms  "  common-sense  "  and  "  tact,"  but  also 
years  of  experience,  particularly  in  the  operation  and 
maintenance  of  irrigation  works. 

The  public  or  the  customers  with  whom  the  irrigation 
manager  has  to  deal  is  made  up  largely  of  farmers,  men 
who  as  a  rule  have  had  little  training  in  business  affairs 
and  who  do  not  always  appreciate  the  necessity  of  a 
thorough  system  with  painstaking  accuracy  in  detail. 
They  are  apt  to  ignore  the  requirements  which  in  the 
abstract  they  admit  are  necessary  for  the  success  of 
the  community,  and  which  should  be  enforced  on  others, 
but  which  when  applied  to  their  individual  case,  puts 
them  to  some  personal  inconvenience.  For  example,  if 
the  manager  does  not  enforce  the  rules  regarding  wasting 
of  water  to  prevent  the  converting  of  roads  into  sloughs, 
the  community  as  a  whole  has  a  justifiable  criticism, 
while  on  the  other  hand  the  individual  farmer  who  is 
forced  to  care  for  his  waste  water  in  the  proper  manner 
is  righteously  indignant  at  the  arbitrary  requirements. 

There  is  thus  involved  in  the  management  of  an 
irrigation  system  the  need  not  only  of  skill,  but  also  of 
firmness  combined  with  tact  and  rare  patience  to  with- 
stand the  importunities  which  reach  the  manager  at 
all  hours  of  the  day  and  frequently  throughout  the 
night.  He  rarely  receives  commendation,  but  rather 
the  contrary,  if  he  is  zealous  in  protecting  the  interests 
of  the  community  as  a  whole.  It  is  this  phase  of  the 
matter  which  renders  the  work  peculiarly  difficult  and 
distasteful  to  many  men  otherwise  well  fitted  for  it. 

7 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  these  disadvantages  there  is 
a  certain  satisfaction  in  overcoming  the  difficulties  and 
in  exercising  the  virtues  of  self-control  which  in  time 
produce  large  results. 

The  manager  must  be  constantly  alert  to  see  that  he 
himself  and  his  assistants  are  vigilant  at  all  times,  not 
only  to  observe  and  study  the  causes  which  may  lead 
to  discomfort  or  legitimate  complaints  on  the  part  of 
the  water  users,  but  also  to  see  to  it  that  at  all  times 
full  justice  is  done  to  the  individual  irrigator.  In  case 
of  doubt  the  benefit  should  be  resolved  in  favor  of  the 
man  who  is  trying  to  cultivate  the  land.  The  rights 
and  privileges  of  the  actual  settler  and  cultivator  of  the 
soil  should  be  not  merely  respected,  but  guarded  in  his 
interest,  and  if  any  preference  is  to  be  shown,  it  is  to  the 
man  who  is  living  upon  his  land  and  endeavoring  to 
produce  crops. 

The  manager  and  his  assistants,  or  what  we  may 
term  "  the  Service,"  occupy  a  position  of  double  trust 
in  the  exercise  of  their  duties,  first  to  operate  the  irri- 
gation system  impartially  and  in  accordance  with  the 
provisions  of  law,  for  the  equal  benefit  of  all  irrigators 
within  the  irrigation  district,  and  second,  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  interests  of  the  owners,  whether  these 
be  individuals,  a  corporation,  or  the  government  which 
advanced  the  funds  with  which  the  system  was  con- 
structed. These  conditions  should  be  borne  in  mind 
constantly. 

Irrigators  are  at  all  times  to  be  treated  with  courtesy 
and  respect,  but  every  employee  must  remember  that 
the  organization  of  which  he  is  a  part  serves  not  only 
the  families  in  the  immediate  vicinity  in  which  he  is 
employed,  but  the  whole  public.  Requests  from  land- 

8 


THE  PROBLEMS 

owners  or  other  persons  to  irrigation  service  employees 
to  act  in  violation  of  their  instructions  will  be  courteously 
but  firmly  refused,  the  persons  making  such  requests 
being  referred  to  the  officer  whose  duty  it  is  to  decide 
the  matter  involved. 

Irrigation  service  employees  should  always  be  willing 
to  receive  complaints,  and  should  forward  them  for 
consideration  to  the  manager  or  chief,  in  order  that 
if  an  injustice  is  being  done  it  may  be  stopped.  In  cases 
where  an  employee  knows  of  a  violation  of  duty  by 
another  employee,  or  of  a  violation  of  the  provisions 
of  law  or  of  the  established  rules,  he  should  report  these 
facts.  An  employee's  first  duty  is  to  the  Service  as 
a  whole  and  he  cannot  loyally  perform  that  duty  if 
he  allows  personal  interests  or  friendships  to  interfere 
with  it  in  any  way. 

The  Service  should  be  composed  of  reliable  and  en- 
thusiastic men,  efficient,  strong  in  teamwork,  thoroughly 
in  sympathy  with  the  irrigator  and  his  needs,  courteous 
and  fair  in  dealing  with  complaints  and  difficulties, 
healthy  men  with  common-sense,  who  will  merit  the 
regard  and  secure  the  cooperation  of  all  interested 
parties. 

Need  of  Trained  Men. — There  is  a  demand  for  properly 
qualified  men  in  this  profession  of  management  of  irri- 
gation systems,  principally  for  assistants  or  subordinates 
who  will  enter  at  the  bottom  and  gradually  work  their 
way  up  as  the  opportunity  arises  for  them  to  demon- 
strate their  ability  in  the  Service. 

In  the  past,  most  of  the  principal  irrigation  managers 
and  their  assistants  have  entered  the  profession  from 
the  engineering  side,  being  originally  connected  with  the 
construction  features.  They  have  gradually  acquired 

9 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

experience  in  handling  the  works  as  they  approach 
completion  and  are  put  into  use.  A  large  irrigation 
system  is  so  complicated  that  at  first  there  must  be 
a  number  of  men  connected  with  the  management  who 
are  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  construction  of  the 
different  parts  and  who  have  had  the  opportunity  of 
watching  the  testing  out  of  these  during  the  early  stages. 
In  the  hundreds  of  miles  of  canals  and  laterals  and 
scores  of  structures,  there  is  so  much  of  the  work  which 
is  out  of  sight,  covered  up  by  earth,  and  so  many  points 
of  structural  weakness  or  possible  danger,  that  the 
men  or  man  who  designed  and  built  these  portions  can 
alone  be  trusted  to  get  them  into  active  operation.  One 
of  the  greatest  dangers  to  the  new  piece  of  work  is  the 
attempt  of  new  men,  unaware  of  many  of  the  conditions, 
to  handle  it. 

In  the  choice  of  irrigation  managers  it  is  not  necessary 
nor  desirable  to  confine  the  selection  wholly  to  the 
engineering  side.  In  fact,  there  is  a  need  for  men  who 
have  been  brought  up  on  a  farm  and  who  have  had  the 
practical  experience  of  an  irrigation  farmer;  especially 
valuable  are  the  young  men  who,  in  addition  to  their 
life  on  an  irrigation  farm,  have  had  a  good  training  in 
the  theory  of  agriculture  at  a  properly  equipped  college. 
Such  men,  combining  a  little  engineering  experience 
with  an  agricultural  course,  should  be  the  ideal  assistants 
in  the  management  of  an  irrigation  system. 

There  is  a  third  class  of  men  from  whom  good  managers 
have  been  drawn,  namely,  the  clerical  class,  or  the  men 
who  have  come  into  the  work  as  bookkeepers  or  account- 
ants, who  have  had  some  experience  as  inspectors  on 
the  ground,  and  who  have  acquired  a  business  training 
and  experience  which  fits  them  to  handle  the  larger 

10 


THE  PROBLEMS 

problems   of  management,   especially  if  provided   with 
eicperienced  engineering  assistants. 

There  are  thus  three  lines  through  which  men  enter 
the  profession  of  irrigation  management:  first,  through 
the  engineering;  second,  through  the  agricultural,  and 
third,  through  the  clerical.  The  final  success  is  deter- 
mined more  largely  by  the  personal  qualities  of  good 
judgment  and  tact  than  by  the  limitations  of  early 
experience  along  any  one  of  these  lines. 

COURSES  OF  INSTRUCTION 

The  colleges  devoted  to  instruction  in  agricultural 
and  mechanical  arts  have  given  more  or  less  attention 
to  the  elements  of  hydraulic  engineering.  Those  in 
the  arid  Western  states  have,  in  outline  at  least,  a  course 
in  irrigation  engineering.  The  larger  Eastern  technical 
schools  have  also  touched  upon  irrigation  in  connection 
with  various  branches  of  civil  engineering.  There  has 
not  been,  however,  any  general  recognition  of  irrigation 
management  as  a  distinct  profession  for  which  men 
are  to  be  trained  by  a  systematic  course  of  observation 
and  study,  but,  as  before  stated,  the  irrigation  managers 
have  been  the  product  of  evolution,  largely  from  the 
constructing  force. 

The  main  problems  of  management  are  so  distinct 
from  those  of  engineering  construction  that  there  is 
need  of  a  recognition  by  the  agricultural  schools  of  a 
training  for  such  men,  one  which  is  primarily  agricul- 
tural or  biological  in  character.  The  engineering  prob- 
lems of  management,  while  in  themselves  complicated, 
are  not  as  far-reaching  as  those  having  to  do  with  the 
human  or  agricultural  side  of  the  work.  They  may 

11 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

be  more  safely  intrusted  to  assistants  or  to  occasional 
advice  from  experienced  constructing  engineers. 

The  ideal  course  of  instruction  would  be  one  given 
to  young  men  who  have  been  brought  up  on  the  farm. 
This  should  include  the  theory  and  practice  of  agri- 
culture with  the  elements  of  hydraulic  engineering, 
and  with  instruction  in  a  few  of  the  fundamental  con- 
ceptions of  water  laws,  sufficient  at  least  to  keep  the 
irrigation  manager  out  of  unnecessary  litigation. 

Correspondence  Courses. — For  lack  of  more  complete 
training,  a  correspondence  course  in  a  well-established 
college  is  of  considerable  value  and  assistance  to  the 
younger  men  employed  as  canal  riders  or  water  masters 
and  who  are  ambitious  to  perfect  themselves  along  these 
lines  and  lay  the  foundation  for  future  advancement. 
Such  courses  are  now  being  offered  in  several  of  the 
western  state  colleges  and  are  being  followed  with  suc- 
cess by  enterprising  young  men  who  could  not  otherwise 
enjoy  the  advantages  of  instruction  along  these  lines. 

EFFICIENCY   AND  ECONOMY 

The  motto  of  the  manager  of  an  irrigation  system 
is  "  Efficiency  first,  then  economy."  Good  service  must 
be  rendered;  when  this  is  done,  then  every  possible 
effort  should  be  made  to  maintain  it  in  the  most  econom- 
ical manner. 

The  development  of  an  efficient  system  of  management 
must  come  about  through  careful  study  of  all  surround- 
ing conditions  and  experience,  such  as  can  be  gained 
only  as  the  works  are  actually  operated.  The  details 
of  effective  service  cannot  be  determined  in  advance, 
but  must  be  worked  out  upon  the  ground  in  conformity 


THE  PROBLEMS 

with  the  requirements  of  each  case,  and  of  adjustment 
of  these  to  laws  and  local  regulations. 

It  is  highly  important  in  these  matters  to  secure  the 
cooperation  of  the  water  users  themselves.  To  do  this 
it  is  necessary  first  to  work  out  as  nearly  as  possible 
what  seems  to  be  the  best  system  and  then,  having 
clearly  in  mind  the  requirements  of  the  case,  consult 
with  representative  water  users.  In  other  words,  the 
management  must  first  know  what  can  be  done  and  the 
limitations,  and  then  make  such  adjustments  as  may 
be  practicable  to  suit  the  ideas  of  the  water  users  them- 
selves wherever  it  is  possible  to  make  such  adjustments 
within  the  limits  of  efficient  operation. 

USE  OF  TERMS 

The  practice  of  irrigation  has  not  yet  been  developed 
to  a  point  where  there  is  complete  agreement  upon  the 
use  of  terms.  There  is  considerable  divergence,  es- 
pecially in  popular  speech,  as  to  the  names  applied  to 
irrigation  canals  and  distributaries.  They  are  commonly 
referred  to  as  "  ditches  "  and  the  men  locally  in  charge 
as  "  ditch-riders  "  or  "ditch-tenders."  With  the  gen- 
eral introduction  of  drainage  there  is  thus  more  or  less 
confusion,  the  canal  being  known  as  the  "  ditch  "  and 
the  drain  also  as  the  "  ditch  "  or  drainage  ditch. 

It  is  desirable  to  adhere  to  some  more  definite  usage 
in  formal  or  official  communications  and  for  this  reason 
to  bring  about  a  greater  uniformity  in  the  various 
terms  connected  with  irrigation.  The  trunk  or  main 
water  course,  irrespective  of  its  size,  may  properly 
be  called  the  main  canal  and  the  larger  branches  known 
as  branch  canals,  The  portions  of  the  distributing  sys- 

13 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

tern  taken  out  from  the  side  of  these  canals  are 
known  as  the  laterals  and  the  smaller  branches  as  farm 
laterals. 

In  connection  with  drainage  work,  there  are  two  classes 
of  principal  works,  namely,  open  and  closed  drains. 
The  word  ditch  may  properly  be  applied  to  the  open 
drains,  this  being  in  accord  with  the  general  use  of  the 
word  throughout  the  English-speaking  countries. 

Manager  is  the  term  applied  to  the  man  in  direct 
charge  of  the  operation  and  maintenance,  thus  dis- 
tinguishing him  from  the  man  previously  in  charge 
of  construction  work  and  who  has  been  known  as  the 
"  project  engineer."  If  the  system  is  a  large  one,  it 
may  be  necessary  to  have,  under  the  manager,  two  or 
more  superintendents  each  in  charge  of  a  principal  canal 
taking  out  usually  from  the  opposite  sides  of  the  river. 
Each  superintendent  in  turn  has  under  him  two  or 
more  watermasters  or  assistant  superintendents  in 
charge  of  principal  branches  of  one  of  the  main  canals 
serving  say  20,000  acres  or  more.  In  turn  the  assist- 
ant superintendent  or  watermaster  has  charge  of  the 
daily  operations  of  the  canal-riders,  gate  tenders,  and 
laborers  employed  in  dividing  the  water  to  the  various 
lateral  canals  and  in  measuring  it  to  the  farmers  or  in 
maintaining  the  structures.  (See  also  p.  64.) 

In  the  Southwest  the  word  "  zanjero  "  is  habitually 
applied  to  the  canal-riders  and  the  canal  itself  is  called 
the  "  zanja  "  or  "  acequia."  The  outlet  or  waste  way 
to  the  river  is  known  as  "  desagua." 

The  entire  organization,  including  the  directors,  the 
manager  and  his  various  assistants,  clerical,  legal  or 
technical,  the  mechanics  and  laborers  form  the  body 
known  as  the  "  Service,"  their  highest  business  being 

14 


THE  PROBLEMS 

to  serve  their  employers  and  the  public  along  the  lines 
of  their  respective  duties. 

UNITS 

There  are  two  classes  of  units  in  common  use  in  con- 
nection with  water,  these  being  dependent  upon  whether 
or  not  time  is  also  considered.  The  quantity  irrespective 
of  time  is  frequently  expressed  in  gallons.  In  irriga- 
tion practice  the  gallon  is  too  small  a  unit  for  con- 
venience; there  are  also  gallons  of  various  sizes  recog- 
nized among  English-speaking  people.  A  more  definite 
and  convenient  unit  but  one  often  too  small  for  common 
use  in  irrigation  is  the  cubic  foot.  In  consideration  of 
water  storage,  for  example,  in  reservoirs,  it  is  necessary 
to  speak  of  millions  of  gallons  (a  million  gallons  equals 
3.07  acre-feet)  as  in  the  case  of  municipal  water  supply 
or  in  millions  of  cubic  feet  (a  million  cubic  feet  equals 
22.95  acre-feet). 

The  acre-foot  is  a  more  convenient  unit  than  the 
gallon  or  cubic  foot  and  is  equivalent  to  a  quantity  of 
water  one  foot  in  depth  covering  an  acre,  or  43,560 
cubic  feet  (about  one-third  of  a  million  gallons).  It  is 
the  unit  most  commonly  employed  in  discussions  of 
storage  for  irrigation  and  of  amounts  of  water  actually 
used  during  the  irrigation  season. 

In  Spanish-speaking  countries  and  in  Egypt  the 
cubic  meter  is  employed,  but  this  is  rarely  known  in 
the  arid  regions  of  the  United  States. 

In  most  matters  having  to  do  with  the  use  of  water 
in  irrigation,  it  is  necessary  to  consider  it  not  as  a 
fixed  quantity  in  a  reservoir  or  tank,  but  as  a  stream 
flowing  for  so  many  seconds,  minutes,  days,  or  fractions 

15 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

of  a  year.  The  time  element  enters  into  all  questions 
of  water  delivered  in  this  form.  The  unit  of  time  is 
the  second,  and  the  most  commonly  employed  unit 
of  rate "  of  flow  in  English-speaking  countries  is  the 
cubic  foot  per  second,  or  second-foot,  or,  as  termed  in 
British  practice  in  India  the  "  cusec."  This  is  the 
quantity  of  water  delivered  by  a  flume  one  foot  wide 
and  one  foot  deep  in  which  the  water  is  flowing  at  the 
average  rate  of  one  foot  per  second. 

Throughout  the  West  the  miner's  inch  is  in  common 
use.  This  is  not  an  absolutely  fixed  quantity,  but  is 
one  which  is  dependent  upon  the  method  of  measurement. 
It  is  defined  by  law  in  the  different  states  as  being  a 
quantity  which  would  pass  through  an  orifice  one  inch 
square  under  a  head  of  usually  from  4  to  6  inches.  It 
is  apparent  that  the  quantity  of  water  depends  upon 
the  nature  of  the  orifice,  especially  its  thickness;  it 
is  also  equally  apparent  that  while  5  to  10  or  even  100 
miner's  inches  may  be  measured  with  a  reasonable 
degree  of  uniformity,  it  is  practically  impossible  to 
measure  10,000  miner's  inches  through  an  orifice  on 
account  of  the  difficulty  of  securing  a  uniform  head 
above  all  parts  of  an  orifice  of  this  size.  For  this  reason 
the  miner's  inch  is  now  interpreted  in  absolute  terms 
as  being  either  ¥\  or  -^  cubic  foot  per  second. 

There  is  a  relatively  simple  relation  between  these 
two  quantities,  namely,  that  used  in  storage  and  that 
employed  in  rate  of  flow  of  water.  This  consists  in  the 
fact  that  one  cubic  foot  per  second  flowing  for  24  hours 
(or  86,400  seconds)  will  cover  an  acre  (43,560  square 
feet)  nearly  two  feet  in  depth  (1.98  feet);  in  other 
words,  one  second-foot  flowing  throughout  the  entire 
day  is  equivalent  roughly  to  2  acre-feet;  or  to  put  in 

16 


THE  PROBLEMS 

in  another  way,  a  reservoir  or  tank  holding  200  acre- 
feet  will  furnish  a  steady  flow  of  one  cubic  foot  per  second 
for  100  days. 

In  connection  with  irrigation,  the  development  of 
water  power  is  frequently  desirable;  there  are  a  few 
simple  units  which  may  be  borne  in  mind.  For  ex- 
ample, the  electric  energy  of  one  KW  (kilowatt)  per 
hour  is  equivalent  to  one  acre-foot  of  water  raised 
one  foot. 

It  is  not  until  energy  or  work  is  performed  for  a 
definite  time  that  it  becomes  measurable  as  power. 
One  ampere  under  a  pressure  of  1  volt  for  1  hour 
gives  the  watt-hour;  10  cubic  feet  per  second  of  water 
under  a  head  of  90  feet  gives  about  100  horse-power; 
which  is  also  approximately  the  power  necessary  to  heat 
1  pound  of  water  70°  Fahrenheit  in  1  second.  Many 
other  examples  can  be  cited,  but  these  simple  facts 
demonstrate  the  difference  between  an  ampere,  a  volt, 
a  watt,  and  a  watt-hour,  or  in  other  words  the  difference 
between  a  quantity,  a  force,  its  energy,  and  its  power. 

Following  is  a  list  of  equivalents  convenient  for  use 
in  hydraulic  computations: 

1  second-foot  equals  40  Arizona  or  California  miner's  inches. 

1  second-foot  equals  7.48  United  States  gallons  per  second; 
equals  448.8  gallons  per  minute;  equals  646,317  gallons  for 
one  day. 

1  second-foot  for  one  year  covers  1  square  mile  1.131  feet 
or  13.752  inches  deep. 

1  second-foot  for  one  year  equals  31,536,000  cubic  feet. 

1  second-foot  equals  about  1  acre-inch  per  hour. 

1  second-foot  for  one  day  equals  86,400  cubic  feet. 

1,000,000,000  (1  United  States  billion)  cubic  feet  equals 
11, 570- second-feet  for  one  day. 

17 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

1,000,000,000  cubic  feet  equals  386  second-feet  for  one 
30-day  month. 

100  California  miner's  inches  equals  18.7  United  States 
gallons  per  second. 

100  California  miner's  inches  for  one  day  equals  4.96  acre-feet. 

100  United  States  gallons  per  minute  equals  0.233  second-foot. 

100  United  States  gallons  per  minute  for  one  day  equals 
0.442  acre-foot. 

1,000,000  United  States  gallons  per  day  equals  1.55  second-feet. 

1,000,000  United  States  gallon^  equals  3.07  acre-feet. 

1,000,000  cubic  feet  equals  22.95  acre-feet. 

1  acre-foot  equals  325,850  gallons. 

1  inch  deep  on  1  square  mile  equals  2,323,200  cubic  feet. 

1  inch  deep  on  1  square  mile  equals  0.0737  second-foot  per 
year. 

1  foot  equals  0.3048  meter. 

1  mile  equals  1.60935  kilometers. 

1  mile  equals  5280  feet. 

1  acre  equals  0.4047  hectare. 

1  acre  equals  43,560  square  feet. 

1  acre  equals  209  feet  square,  nearly. 

1  square  mile  equals  2.59  square  kilometers. 

1  cubic  foot  equals  0.0283  cubic  meter. 

1  cubic  foot  of  water  weighs  62.5  pounds. 

1  cubic  meter  per  minute  equals  0.5886  second-foot. 

1  horse-power  equals  550  foot-pounds  per  second. 

1  horse-power  equals  76.0  kilogram-meters  per  second. 

1  horse-power  equals  746  watts. 

1  horse-power  equals  1  second-foot  falling  8.80  feet. 

1|  horse-power  equals  about  1  kilowatt. 

..       Sec.-ft.X fall  in  feet 
To  calculate  water  power  quickly: — =  net 

horse-power  on  water  wheel  realizing  80  per  cent,  of  theoretical 
power. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS 

THE  irrigation  manager  has  before  him  certain  works 
more  or  less  completed,  with  location  fixed  and  with 
a  population  of  water  users  or  customers  provided. 
Unlike  the  constructing  engineer,  he  does  not  have  a 
free  hand  in  planning  and  locating  the  works  nor  in 
radically  modifying  them  to  suit  his  ideals.  He  must 
take  what  he  finds  and  adapt  his  methods  largely  to 
the  existing  physical  conditions.  For  this  reason,  it 
is  of  the  highest  importance  that  he  acquire  a  full 
knowledge  of  these  conditions  and  maintain  accurate 
records,  not  depending  upon  hearsay  or  upon  assump- 
tions as  to  the  facts  of  water  supply,  climate,  soils, 
and  related  natural  phenomena;  he  should  endeavor 
to  initiate  and  keep  up  such  observations  as  will  in- 
crease his  knowledge  of  the  environment, 

ENVIRONMENT 

The  methods  of  operation  which  are  suitable  to  an 
irrigation  system,  for  example,  in  southern  Arizona, 
where  water  is  delivered  throughout  the  year,  would 
obviously  not  be  applicable  in  Montana,  where  the  crop 
season  is  short  and  where  the  extreme  cold  materially 
affects  the  stability  of  hydraulic  structures.  While  there 
are  certain  broad  principles  which  can  be  applied  under 

19 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

all  known  conditions,  yet  the  practical  application  of 
these  must  be  controlled  from  time  to  time  in  accordance 
with  the  knowledge  of  limiting  conditions  acquired  by 
observation  and  experience. 

The  principal  limitations  are  those  of  water  supply, 
climate,  and  soil  conditions.  The  water  supply  is  per- 
haps the  most  important,  as  the  methods  of  manage- 
ment must  be  adapted  to  the  amount  of  water  available. 
For  example,  even  though  the  irrigation  season  may  be 
so  long  that  with  ample  water  two  or  more  crops  might 
be  raised  each  year,  yet  with  restricted  supply,  it  is 
necessary  to  concentrate  all  efforts  on  using  this  supply 
in  the  most  advantageous  way  during  the  period  when 
it  occurs. 

With  higher  development  it  may  be  possible  to  reg- 
ulate the  water  supply  by  means  of  reservoirs  similar  to 
the  Roosevelt  Dam,  Arizona,  to  insure  a  certain  amount 
for  use  at  any  desired  time.  In  few  instances,  however, 
is  it  possible  completely  to  regulate  the  supply.  Usually 
in  some  part  of  the  year  or  during  an  occasional  year, 
there  will  be  a  surplus  which  may  be  used  to  advantage 
on  a  quick  annual  crop.  Thus,  the  ideal  scheme  which 
could  be  laid  out  under  the  assumption  that  water  can 
be  had  whenever  needed  must  be  modified  to  produce 
the  most  effective  results  with  fluctuating  quantity. 

Climate. — The  climatic  conditions  of  any  locality  may 
be  regarded  as  fixed  within  a  certain  range.  Observa- 
tions continued  throughout  a  period  of  half  a  century 
show  that  there  is  little,  if  any,  progressive  change, 
but  that  the  average  temperature,  precipitation,  wind 
movement,  and  other  phenomena  for  any  half-century 
are  practically  the  same  as  that  of  an  equivalent  time 
preceding  or  succeeding  this  period. 

20 


THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS 

The  difficulties  which  the  irrigation  manager  encounters 
in  regard  to  climate,  however,  are  those  which  arise 
from  lack  of  knowledge  as  to  what  are  the  fixed  limits 
within  which  these  climatic  factors  vary.  Throughout 
the  greater  part  of  the  arid  region  the  land  had  been 
settled  for  so  short  a  time  that  there  are  no  reliable 
results  based  on  continuous  observations  within  the  par- 
ticular area  with  which  he  is  concerned.  Usually,  he 
can  obtain  the  facts  for  four  or  five  years,  but  these 
years  for  which  data  are  had  may  be  exceptional  as 
regards  either  heat  or  cold,  drought  or  storm.  They 
may  tend  to  mislead  the  manager  rather  than  assist. 
However,  he  must  utilize  such  facts  as  he  can  obtain 
and  supplement  these  from  day  to  day  by  records  which 
will  serve  as  a  guide  in  the  future. 

In  particular,  there  should  be  maintained  observations 
of  rain  and  snowfall  at  certain  permanent  points,  such 
as  at  the  principal  storage  or  diversion  dams,  and  at 
or  near  canal-rider's  houses  in  the  irrigated  lands.  Also 
there  should  be  available  observations  of  temperature  to 
ascertain  the  warm  or  cold  spots  on  the  project  and 
the  time  of  occurrence  of  early  and  late  frosts  within 
the  cultivated  area.  There  are  certain  localities  in  each 
large  irrigated  district  which  are  particularly  favored 
in  regard  to  temperature,  and  the  effective  distribution 
of  water  is  modified  by  the  ability  of  these  areas  to 
produce  certain  classes  of  crops. 

The  form  on  page  23  has  been  found  to  be  convenient 
for  keeping  such  records,  being  much  simplified  from  those 
prepared  by  the  Weather  Bureau.  In  cases  where  the 
Weather  Bureau  records  are  kept  on  a  project,  the  data 
from  these  should  be  had  by  the  manager,  but  these 
usually  pertain  to  only  one  point.  They  should  be 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

supplemented  by  simple  records  kept  at  various  points 
within  the  agricultural  area,  as  above  noted,  and  also 
as  far  as  practicable  at  the  reservoir  dams  or  other 
points  accessible  in  the  mountains. 

A  study  of  records  which  have  been  kept  for  many 
years  reveals  a  tendency  towards  periodic  variations 
in  the  weather  conditions,  extending  through  five  or 
ten  years  or  more.  It  is  well  known  that  wet  and  dry 
years  occur  in  groups.  Although  an  extremely  wet 
year  may  succeed  an  extremely  dry  one,  or  vice  versa, 
the  tendency  towards  cycle  or  secular  variations  is 
very  evident.  This  phenomenon  has  an  important  bear- 
ing on  the  question  of  water  supply,  chiefly  because  facts 
and  data  are  often  arrayed  against  the  memory  of  the 
oldest  inhabitant  to  establish  or  refute  a  theory  of  this 
nature. 

There  is  an  almost  universal  belief  that  the  climate 
is  changing;  that  floods  and  drought,  heat  and  cold 
are  all  "  different  than  they  used  to  be."  No  matter 
where  one  goes,  the  same  statement  is  heard. 

It  is  a  perfectly  natural  conclusion  and  results  from  two 
causes,  one  psychological,  the  other  physical.  As  we  grow 
older,  our  perspective  undergoes  an  adjustment.  We  only 
retain  impressions  of  those  things  that  are  associated  in  our 
memory  with  particular  circumstances.  "Man  marks  where 
he  hits,  but  never  marks  when  he  misses."  We  recall  wading 
snowdrifts  to  school.  To-day  those  snowdrifts  do  not  seem 
so  deep  and  we  immediately  conclude  that  they  are  not.  The 
water  in  the  "old  swimming-hole"  was  much  deeper  when  we 
were  boys;  to-day  it  is  only  waist-deep  and  we  think  the 
river  is  smaller  than  it  used  to  be.  We  visit  a  spring,  after 
a  lapse  of  years,  from  which  we  drank  when  boys;  it  doesn't 
seem  so  large  nor  the  water  so  fine  as  then.  The  spring  is 


•o 

0 

• 

0 

a 
Q 

. 

M 

^ 

Ss 

at 

1 

*•§ 

s 

3 

Z 

. 

§ 

3 

2 

0 

*-!     * 

"3   "° 

5  5 

•g'O  i*»'31 

"S-S  Q  43^ 

I" 

~ 

^ 

tf 

i  -£• 

^ 

H 
1* 

Ill 

1 

*"*x 

•8 

3 

0 

-? 

J3 

"S 

1 

<N 

•£ 

Q 

B 

H 
1 

1 
£ 
o 

11 

1 

5 

fc 

PH 

*d  ""^ 

c8 

J3 

O 

Is 

•5 

H 

H» 

B 

£ 

d 
d 

a> 

| 

Q 
§ 

_c 

_c 

3 

^ 

8  "3 

"3 

w>  5 

1 

u 

o3 

G     2 

1  I 

H 

H 

J   S 

PROJEC 

o 

c 
<a 

>-> 

I 

March 

— 

- 
< 

S 

E 

.; 

4 

i 

c 

z 

f 

I1 

111 
Q  Q  S 

IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

the  same,  but  our  conception  of  it  has  changed.  Our  memory 
of  it  is  fixed  by  some  isolated  circumstance  connected  with  it, 
while  to-day  we  view  it  in  the  abstract,  unconsciously  com- 
paring it  with  others  we  have  seen  since.  A  man's  memory 
of  high  and  low  stages  of  rivers  alongside  of  which  he  has 
always  lived  is  invariably  governed  by  isolated  circumstances 
and  incidents  which  he  does  not  remember  consecutively. 
For  this  reason  such  evidence  is  always  untrustworthy,  and 
only  those  who  have  had  occasion  to  gather  evidences  of  this 
kind  know  how  conflicting  and  untrustworthy  they  are. 

The  second  and  principal  reason  for  the  universal  belief 
that  physical  phenomena  are  changing  is  that  they  are  actually 
undergoing  continued  changes,  not,  however,  to  the  degree 
nor  in  the  manner  that  is  popularly  believed.  Rainfall,  tem- 
peratures, humidity,  winds,  and  consequently  the  stages  of 
rivers  and  lakes,  occur  and  recur  with  variable  length  and 
intensity.  The  major  cycles  are  longer  than  the  life  of  an 
average  man — at  least  longer  than  his  faculty  for  accurate 
recollections.1 

These  cycles  of  wet  and  dry  years  have  been  the 
subject  of  long-continued  studies  by  various  men  in 
many  countries.  There  is  a  peculiar  fascination  about 
them,  increased  by  the  illusive  character  of  the  data. 
Some  men,  after  a  lifetime  of  research,  have  proved, 
to  their  own  satisfaction  at  least,  that  these  cycles 
coincide  with  the  appearance  of  the  sun  spots;  others 
that  they  have  a  duration  of  seventeen  years;  others 
claim  eleven-year  or  seven-year  periodicity;  and  so  on, 
apparently  no  two  authorities  being  in  accord  as  to  the 
full  interpretation  of  the  fragmentary  facts. 

Soil. — The  character  and  condition  of  the  soil,  while 

1  J.  C.  Stevens,  in  Journal  of  Electricity,  Power  and  Gas,  Feb. 
21,  1914,  p.  166. 

24 


THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS 

vital  to  the  success  of  agriculture,  are  relatively  of  less 
importance  in  the  success  of  an  irrigation  project  than 
are  some  of  the  other  physical  limitations,  such  as  proper 
location  of  the  works  and  favorable  climate.  This  is 
because  throughout  the  arid  region  the  soils  as  a  rule, 
while  deficient  in  humus,  are  of  such  character  that  even 
at  first,  with  proper  treatment,  they  will  produce  fair 
grain  crops,  such  as  barley  or  wheat,  or  potatoes,  as 
shown  in  the  illustration  facing  page  34.  Later,  with 
careful  handling,  they  can  be  brought  up  to  a  high 
degree  of  fertility.  As  a  rule,  they  have  not  been 
leached  of  the  valuable  mineral  salts  to  the  same  degree 
as  the  soils  of  the  humid  region.  They  contain  con- 
siderable quantities  of  soluble  minerals  of  some  value 
to  plant  life.  With  adequate  supply  of  water  and 
favorable  climatic  conditions,  the  ordinary  soils  can 
usually  be  depended  upon  from  the  outset  to  produce 
remunerative  crops. 

The  fact  that  there  are  certain  soluble  salts  in  the 
soil  is  not  only  a  source  of  profit,  but  also  of  danger  in 
that,  by  careless  handling  of  the  water,  these  salts  may 
be  washed  out  from  one  portion  of  the  field  and  con- 
centrated in  another,  producing  what  is  commonly  known 
as  alkali,  destructive  to  valuable  plant  life.  With  in- 
different handling  of  the  water,  therefore,  not  only  is 
the  soil  value  greatly  reduced,  but  large  areas  of  otherwise 
fertile  soil  are  more  or  less  permanently  injured  and 
can  be  relieved  only  by  an  effective  system  of  drains. 

The  soil  of  the  arid  region,  as  above  noted,  is  usually 
deficient  in  humus  or  nitrogenous  matter;  one  of  the 
first  and  greatest  problems  of  the  irrigation  manager 
on  a  new  project  is  to  induce  the  irrigators  to  cultivate 
crops  such  as  alfalfa  and  peas,  which  will  put  nitrogen 

25 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

in  the  soil,  and  to  bring  about  an  appreciation  on  the 
part  of  the  farmers  of  the  desirability  of  plowing  under 
some  of  these  green  crops  in  order  to  maintain  or  in- 
crease the  soil  fertility. 

An  unfortunate  fallacy  has  prevailed  throughout  the 
country  to  the  effect  that  irrigated  land  needs  little  or 
no  artificial  fertilizer.  This  has  been  based  on  erroneous 
statements  regarding  the  fertility  of  irrigated  lands  of 
Egypt,  where  it  has  been  alleged  that  for  centuries  cer- 
tain fields  have  been  irrigated  and  cultivated,  depending 
wholly  upon  the  muddy  waters  of  the  Nile.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  however,  the  men  who  have  cultivated  these 
fields  for  generations  have  applied  fertilizer  as  far  as  lay 
within  their  power;  one  of  the  great  problems  now  con- 
cerning the  agriculturists  of  the  valley  of  the  Nile  and 
other  similar  irrigated  regions  is  to  obtain  sufficient 
potash  and  other  ingredients  to  keep  up  the  crop  yield. 
(See  also  p.  130.) 

Water  Supply. — Under  few,  if  any,  irrigation  systems, 
even  where  storage  reservoirs  are  provided,  is  there 
complete  or  reliable  information  concerning  the  fluc- 
tuations of  water  supply.  Each  year  occurs  a  new 
combination  of  conditions  and  new  problems  regarding 
the  handling  of  the  water  available.  Either  the  floods 
come  very  early  or  late,  or  are  exceptionally  large,  or 
small;  the  average  year  never  occurs.  Thus,  the  man- 
ager, to  have  a  basis  for  his  judgment,  must  continually 
observe  and  record  the  daily  changing  conditions  of 
water  supply  and  compare  these  with  what  has  hap- 
pened during  previous  years.  In  this  way  alone  can 
he  plan  effectively  to  use  the  water  available. 

An  irrigation  system  usually  is  developed  to  a  point 
where  all  of  the  ordinary  water  supply  is  needed.  Then 

26 


THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS 

it  becomes  a  matter  of  skill  and  judgment  to  deter- 
mine to  what  extent  cultivation  of  additional  fields 
may  be  justified  by  the  probability  of  obtaining  more 
water,  or  at  more  favorable  time  than  in  some  pre- 
ceding year. 

COMPARISON  OF  SYSTEMS 

In  order  to  make  comparisons  of  irrigation  systems, 
it  is  necessary  to  classify  them  in  a  general  way;  that 
is  to  say,  the  figures  showing  expenditures,  for  example, 
for  operation  and  maintenance  of  a  system  provided 
with  reservoirs,  cannot  well  be  compared  with  those 
for  another  system  without  reservoirs.  In  order  to 
make  such  a  comparison,  it  is  therefore  desirrable  to 
classify  expenditures  for  the  different  parts  of  a  sys- 
tem, namely,  for  the  storage  or  diversion  of  water, 
for  its  carriage,  for  distribution  to  the  field,  and  for 
drainage.  (See  Chapter  X,  p.  166.)  By  this  means 
the  cost  of  a  small  system  which  consists  essentially 
of  distributing  canals  may  be  compared  with  the  similar 
cost  of  operating  and  maintaining  an  approximately  equal 
area  or  portion  of  the  distributing  system  of  a  large 
canal,  since  this  process  eliminates  from  the  comparison 
the  cost  of  reservoirs  and  related  expenditures  not  en- 
countered in  the  case  of  the  small  canal. 

STRUCTURAL  RESTRICTIONS 

Many  irrigation  systems  have  been  planned  and  built 
by  men  who  have  had  little  or  no  experience  in  the 
practical  problems  of  operation  and  maintenance.  This 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  management  of  irrigation 
systems  is  relatively  a  new  art,  in  which  the  fundamental 

27 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

principles  have  hardly  yet  been  recognized  or  agreed 
upon.  Most  of  the  systems  after  construction  have 
been  handled  for  a  time  by  some  one  or  another  of  the 
men  connected  with  their  construction,  or  turned  over 
to  local  associations  who  have  shifted  the  management 
from  year  to  year  with  little  continuity  of  plan  or  per- 
sonnel. Thus,  it  happens  that  the  man  or  men  who 
may  have  acquired  valuable  experience  in  the  practical 
details  of  managing  the  canal  system  have  drifted  off 
into  other  occupations. 

As  a  result  of  the  fact  that  the  experience  had  in 
handling  one  canal  system  has  rarely  been  used  in  con- 
structing another,  it  is  found  that  when  the  new  system 
has  been  built  and  is  being  put  into  operation,  there 
are  many  limitations  which  have  been  imposed  by 
construction  and  which  can  be  removed,  if  at  all,  only 
in  part  and  quite  slowly.  For  example,  many  of  the 
structures  may  have  been  built  with  the  assumption 
that  a  small,  steady  flow  of  water  would  be  used,  whereas 
after  some  years  of  experimentation  it  may  be  found 
that  greater  efficiency  could  be  obtained  by  using  large 
heads  or  runs,  but  that  this  is  prevented  by  certain 
flumes  or  gates  being  too  small  to  accommodate  these 
large  heads.  (See  Chapter  XIII,  and  illustration  facing 
page  90.)  In  the  course  of  time  some  of  these  structures 
can  be  replaced  and  the  system  gradually  improved. 
The  danger  is  that  in  the  meantime  the  water  users 
may  have  become^fixed  in  poor  practices. 

The  irrigation  manager  thus  has  a  continual  problem 
before  him  of  ascertaining  what  are  the  best  methods 
and  in  studying  how  far  he  can  put  these  methods  into 
practice  with  the  limitations  which  have  been  imposed 
by  the  men  who  preceded  him  in  building  the  system. 

28 


THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS 

He  can  rarely  make  radical  changes,  but  must  lay  out 
a  systematic  course  of  procedure  and  gradually  adjust 
the  methods  and  works  to  these. 

Location  of  Canal. — The  principal  restriction  is  that 
imposed  by  the  main  canal.  It  can  carry  only  a  certain 
amount  of  water  and  if  there  is  ample  supply  in  the 
river,  the  question  of  development  of  the  project  rests  at 
first  on  the  capacity  of  this  canal  and  of  its  structures. 
The  location,  however,  may  limit  the  area  of  land  which 
can  be  covered  by  gravity,  for  if  all  of  the  land  which 
lies  below  the  canal  is  irrigated,  then  any  extension  of 
the  system  must  presumably  be  made  by  pumping  to 
a  slightly  higher  ground  not  commanded  by  the  gravity 
flow. 

Whether  or  not  more  land  can  be  brought  under  irri- 
gation by  enlarging  or  extending  the  system,  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  manager  at  all  times  to  endeavor  to  attain 
the  highest  efficiency  and  economy.  This  can  be  done 
only  when  all  of  the  land  which  can  be  irrigated  is  put 
to  its  highest  use.  For  one  reason,  the  overhead  charges 
are  usually  fixed,  whether  the  area  irrigated  is  larger 
or  smaller  or  the  crop  production  greater  or  less;  thus 
every  additional  acre  of  land  which  can  be  served  tends 
to  reduce  the  proportionate  cost  per  acre  to  the  irri- 
gator.  While  there  are  these  limitations  imposed  by 
the  original  size  and  location  of  the  main  canal,  it  is 
usually  possible  to  increase  the  effective  area  by  care- 
ful study  of  surrounding  conditions,  particularly  as  to 
the  practicability  of  pumping  water  at  drops  in  the 
main  canal,  and  of  distributing  it  more  completely  to 
the  lands  within  the  reach  of  gravity. 

In  reviewing  the  physical  conditions  and  limitations 
which  are  imposed  upon  the  manager  of  any  large  irri- 

29 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

gation  work,  it  is  appreciated  that  from  the  physical 
standpoint  he  does  not  have  the  breadth  of  opportunity 
in  molding  and  shaping  conditions  that  his  brother 
engineer  has  who  is  building  similar  works.  Never- 
theless, although  these  physical  limitations  do  set  rela- 
tively narrow  bounds,  there  is  opportunity  for  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  engineering  skill,  judgment  and  ability  in 
dealing  with  the  problems  of  making  the  works  serve 
their  highest  purposes  in  bringing  water  to  the  land 
at  the  right  time  and  in  the  quantities  needed  by  the 
soil.  There  is  always  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of 
ingenuity  in  fitting  the  canal  structures  more  closely 
to  the  limitations.  The  continual  study  of  these  problems 
yields  many  interesting  facts,  some  of  which  previously 
had  been  overlooked  or  which  have  developed  as  more 
complete  knowledge  is  had  of  the  climate,  soil,  and 
water  supply, 


CHAPTER   III 
THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT 

THE  engineer  who  has  graduated  from  the  construction 
of  an  irrigation  system  to  the  management  of  it,  finds 
that  his  principal  problems  are  quite  different  from 
those  which  he  encountered  during  the  construction 
period.  The  human  element  comes  to  the  front;  while 
the  physical  difficulties,  though  not  small,  sink  into 
relative  insignificance  when  compared  with  those  which 
grow  out  of  the  dealings  with  hundreds  or  even  thousands 
of  individual  water  users  who  are  to  a  certain  degree 
proprietors  of  the  works.  For  success  the  manager  must 
be  something  of  a  diplomat  and  have  a  keen  insight  into 
the  motives  of  individuals  and  of  masses  of  men.  He 
stands  almost  in  the  position  of  Providence  in  dispensing 
life-giving  moisture  and  at  the  same  time  must  be  the 
agent  or  representative  of  the  financial  interests  which 
have  built  the  works. 

Pioneers. — The  men  who  built  the  first  irrigation 
canals  in  the  arid  West  were  typical  pioneers,  forced  by 
necessity  to  endure  hardships,  with  their  ranks  thinned 
and  the  average  raised  from  time  to  time  by  the  elimi- 
nation of  the  weaker  or  less  fit  members.  They  came 
into  the  new  and  almost  unknown  country  one  or  two 
at  a  time,  or  in  little  groups,  bound  together  by  ties 
of  relationship  or  common  danger.  They  learned  to 
work  together,  to  practice  cooperation  in  irrigation,  and 

31 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

gradually  built  up  irrigation  systems  of  considerable  size 
and  intricacy. 

The  modern  pioneer  is  of  a  different  type.  He  is 
attracted  usually  by  glowing  accounts  of  the  relative 
ease  of  acquiring  wealth  in  the  West,  and  with  erroneous 
ideas  concerning  the  conditions  to  be  met.  He  has 
been  allured  by  the  advertisements  of  land  companies 
or  of  railroads  interested  primarily  in  the  profits  from 
homeseekers'  tickets  or  from  the  freight  rates  on  their 
household  goods,  and  ultimately  on  the  materials  which 
they  may  produce. 

The  widespread  advertising  with  gorgeous  lithographs 
naturally  tempts  the  more  restless  individuals  of  the 
community,  especially  the  men  who  have  not  made  good 
at  home.  There  has  thus  arisen  a  class  which  has  been 
called  the  "  professional  pioneer,"  always  seeking  for 
something  a  little  better  or  for  conditions  where  life 
will  be  easier;  staying  in  any  one  locality  only  a  few 
months  or  years  and  then  again  seeking  El  Dorado. 

Selecting  the  Farmer.- -The  success  of  an  irrigation 
enterprise  is  more  dependent  upon  obtaining  speedily 
the  right  kind  of  farmers  than  it  is  upon  the  complete- 
ness of  the  construction  and  the  adequacy  of  the  water 
supply.  This  fact  is  generally  overlooked;  while  skill 
and  care  have  been  shown  in  the  selection  of  the  project, 
in  the  determination  of  the  amount  of  water  which  may 
be  available,  in  the  drawing  of  engineering  plans,  in  the 
securing  of  all  of  the  legal  conditions  and  qualifications, 
and  the  safeguarding  of  all  of  the  physical  features  of  the 
work,  yet  at  the  same  time  there  has  been  a  general 
neglect  of  the  more  important  item  of  the  choice  of 
the  farmer  or  the  selection  of  the  men  who  will  utilize 
these  works  and  make  them  a  success. 

33 


THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT 

It  has  been  assumed  too  often  in  the  past  that  any 
man  can  take  a  piece  of  raw  land,  or  even  an  area  that 
has  been  partly  subdued,  build  a  home,  start  the  cul- 
tivation of  crops,  choose  the  best  kinds  and  arrange 
to  market  these  in  a  remunerative  manner.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  this  is  the  weak  point  of  the  whole  irrigation 
proposition.  It  is  as  though  a  high-priced,  complicated 
machine,  such  as  the  automobile,  were  put  at  once  into 
the  hands  of  the  first  man  who  applied,  and  the  safety 
of  the  machine  and  its  occupants  trusted  to  a  man 
whose  skill  had  never  been  fully  shown.  So  it  is  with 
the  newcomers  on  an  irrigation  project.  About  the 
only  test  which  is  applied  is  that  of  the  financial  ability 
of  the  man  to  make  his  first  payment.  In  some  cases 
this  first  payment  is  extremely  small  and  there  is 
practically  no  proof  to  indicate  whether  the  applicant 
for  an  irrigated  farm  is  really  competent  to  undertake 
the  business. 

The  results  are  as  should  have  been  expected.  Many 
of  the  would-be  farmers  are  in  no  way  suited  for  the 
work  and  when  it  is  made  evident  that  they  cannot  make 
a  success,  there  is  no  way  by  which  they  can  be  imme- 
diately placed  elsewhere  and  an  opportunity  afforded 
to  some  other  man  who  has  the  ability  to  make  use  of  it. 
It  is  much  as  though  a  large  factory  had  been  built 
equipped  with  modern  machinery  and  the  applicants 
were  then  allowed  to  select  their  own  machine  or  occu- 
pation, and  it  was  incumbent  upon  the  management 
to  do  the  best  possible  with  the  people  who  came  with- 
out knowledge  of  the  processes,  but  who  had  been 
attracted  by  the  outward  appearance  of  one  particular 
machine  or  another.  The  success  of  any  such  enter- 
prise must  obviously  rest  not  only  upon  the  adaptation 

33 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

of  the  machine  to  the  work,  but  of  the  people  to  the 
machine  and  to  the  work. 

In  the  case  of  large  private  enterprise,  it  is  often 
possible  to  a  certain  degree  to  select  at  the  outset  the 
class  of  settlers,  or  at  least  to  hold  the  land  until  the 
man  who  seems  to  have  suitable  qualifications  arrives, 
but  in  the  case  of  government  enterprises,  this  con- 
dition is  impossible  and  the  man  who  has  not  the  qual- 
ities to  make  a  successful  farmer,  has  not  the  strength, 
the  perseverance,  the  thrift,  or  good* judgment,  must 
be  permitted  to  select  a  farm  if  one  is  available  and  to 
work  out  his  own  problems.  He  may  perhaps  consume 
years  in  wasted  efforts  in  his  own  life  and  incidentally 
waste  the  investment  of  others  before  it  is  possible  to 
get  him  to  give  way  to  some  man  better  equipped. 

Time  Needed  for  Settlement. — An  agricultural  com- 
munity cannot  immediately  be  placed  upon  a  successful 
and  permanent  basis.  Years  are  required  for  a  body  of 
farmers  to  establish  social  or  business  relations  and  get 
into  the  condition  commonly  known  in  other  industries 
as  a  "  going  concern."  In  the  case  of  a  large  manu- 
facturing institution,  it  is  possible  to  erect  buildings 
within  a  few  months,  assemble  workmen,  and  organize 
the  operations  so  that  in  the  course  of  a  few  months 
the  larger  features  are  well  under  way;  this  cannot 
be  done  with  farming.  It  is  the  failure  to  recognize  this 
condition  which  has  led  to  most  of  the  disappointments 
and  financial  failures  in  irrigation  enterprises. 

Studies  of  the  settlers  on  various  projects  show  that 
upwards  of  75  per  cent,  of  the  first-comers  or  pioneers 
have  left  within  the  first  three  or  four  years.  This  is 
naturally  to  be  expected,  as  the  first-comers  were  usually 
the  more  restless  members  of  a  community,  men  who 

34 


THE  DESERT  BEFORE  IRRIGATION. 

Sparse  vegetation  and  apparently  sandy  and  lifeless  soil. 


THE  DESERT  AFTER  WATER  HAS  BEEX  APPLIED. 
Furrow  irrigation  of  potato  field  near  Powell,  Wyoming. 


THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT 

were  always  on  the  lookout  for  something  new  and  when 
they  had  discovered  it  were  anxious  to  dispose  of  their 
acquisitions  and  move  on  to  a  still  better  opportunity. 
Lack  of  Experience. — Few  of  the  persons  who  come 
into  an  irrigated  region  have  had  experience  under  the 
conditions  similar  to  those  encountered  in  the  new 
home.  Even  if  they  have  practiced  agriculture  by 
irrigation  before,  the  experience  thus  attained  may  not 
be  applicable  under  the  new  conditions.  Knowing  little 
of  the  difficulties  to  be  encountered,  the  new-comer,  if 
he  takes  advice  at  all,  is  inclined  to  seek  it  from  his 
neighbors,  many  of  whom  are  little  qualified  to  give 
sound  advice;  he  is  as  apt  to  imitate  bad  practices  as 
good  ones.  The  kind  of  experience  that  is  needed  for 
success  under  new  conditions  is  not  appreciated  at 
first  and  frequently  those  things  which  should  be  done, 
as  shown  by  later  developments,  are  neglected  because 
they  appear  too  difficult  at  the  start.  The  item  which 
is  most  habitually  neglected  is  that  of  careful  prepara- 
tion of  the  surface  of  the  land  for  irrigation.  During 
the  first  year  or  two  the  farmer  is  so  busy  with  building 
his  fences  and  needed  shelter  for  himself  and  animals, 
and  in  getting  in  his  crop  that  he  is  forced  to  skim  over 
the  surface  rather  rapidly,  and  having  once  tilled  the  soil 
he  is  inclined  to  leave  it  somewhat  rough  or  rolling. 
The  best  farmers,  however,  if  they  do  not  have  time 
during  the  first  year  to  level  properly  all  of  their  fields, 
make  a  practice  of  thoroughly  preparing  each  year  a 
few  acres.  For  example,  on  a  forty-acre  farm  especial 
attention  may  be  given  the  first  year  to  leveling  off 
five  acres,  and  the  next  year  this  area  is  extended.  Thus, 
in  the  course  of  a  few  years  the  surface  of  the  entire 
farm  is  brought  into  condition  for  the  highest  economy 

35 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

in  time  and  labor  in  applying  water  and  with  consequent 
reduction  of  the  amount  of  water  applied  and  larger 
crop  yields. 

Need  of  Capital. — One  of  the  greatest  needs  in  devel- 
oping any  country  is  the  possession  of  ample  capital. 
To  acquire  a  "  going  business  "  in  agriculture  under 
irrigation  is  relatively  a  difficult,  slow  and  expensive 
enterprise;  one  which  requires  a  considerable  invest- 
ment in  tools,  farm  animals,  and  seed,  as  well  as  in 
house,  stable,  and  fences.  The  new-comers,  as  a  rule, 
do  not  have  enough  money  to  equip  themselves  for 
the  work  in  hand,  and  often  do  not  utilize  the  money 
which  they  do  have  to  the  best  effect  for  producing 
large  results. 

Some  of  them  had  more  than  the  average  amount  of 
money  when  they  came  into  the  country,  but  they 
made  the  mistake  of  buying  too  much  land  or  machinery. 
For  example,  one  man  came  to  a  new  project  with  over 
$7,500  cash  and  a  somewhat  expensive  family.  Instead 
of  confining  his  outlay  to  40  acres  of  good  land,  he 
bought  160  acres  and  paid  down  $5,000,  putting  most 
of  the  rest  into  a  house,  barn,  and  implements.  He 
had  literally  nothing  to  live  upon  after  he  had  made 
this  investment;  he  found  to  his  sorrow  that  he  could 
not  again  sell  any  of  the  land  he  had  bought  at  prices 
which  he  had  already  paid.  A  neighbor  coming  in 
with  less  money  and  confining  his  efforts  to  40  acres 
made  good.  It  is  not  the  possession  of  ample  funds 
which  insures  success,  but  rather  ample  brains  and 
experience,  with  a  moderate  amount  of  cash. 

Incompetents. — There  are  naturally  attracted  to  all  of 
these  new  opportunities  a  considerable  number  of  per- 
sons who  have  not  only  made  a  failure  elsewhere,  but 


THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT 

are  wholly  unfitted  through  lack  of  physical  or  mental 
strength  of  achieving  success  even  under  the  best  con- 
ditions. Thus,  there  is  apt  to  be  in  these  new  com- 
munities a  larger  proportion  of  unfit  persons  than  in 
the  older  settled  communities. 

It  frequently  occurs  that  irrigation  is  attempted  by 
men  who  are  not  able  to  make  a  success  of  ordinary 
agriculture,  but  who  have  faith  that  they  can  carry 
on  this  more  difficult  task  with  success,  although  they 
have  failed  in  the  easier  operation  of  farming  under  humid 
conditions. 

One  of  the  greatest  discouragements  in  operation  and 
maintenance  is  the  presence  of  many  of  this  class  of 
men,  some  of  whom  have  taken  up  lands  in  the  most 
conspicuous  localities.  While  the  percentage  of  these 
may  be  small,  yet  there  are  enough  to  create  an  unfa- 
vorable reputation  for  the  project.  As  one  old  farmer 
expressed  it:  "  We  have  too  many  of  these  do-less 
fellows.  If  you  gave  them  160  acres  with  complete 
rights,  they  would  be  unable  to  make  a  living.  The 
lands  look  like  a  '  widder  '  woman's  place." 

The  competent  men,  those  who  have  enthusiasm, 
energy,  and  a  reasonable  amount  of  skill  and  capital, 
gradually  replace  these  "  do-less "  men,  and  coming 
to  the  project  after  the  first  rush  is  over  or  during  the 
progress  of  the  developments,  are  usually  able  to  purchase 
or  obtain  a  small  tract  of  partly  developed  land  at 
reasonable  expense,  to  this  extent  possibly  profiting  at 
the  cost  of  their  less  fortunate  predecessors.  (See 
illustration  facing  page  90.) 

Shifting  of  Population. — The  men  first  attracted  to  a 
new  country  rarely  find  life  there  as  attractive  as  they 
had  hoped.  Some  are  easily  drawn  away  again  by  the 

37 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

allurements  of  other  lands  which  are  being  opened. 
They  belong  to  the  type  of  adventurer  seeking  some- 
thing better.  After  a  man  of  this  class  has  been  a  year 
or  so  on  an  irrigation  project  he  usually  succeeds  in  trad- 
ing off  his  property,  and  during  the  first  five  years  as 
many  as  three  families  in  succession  may  have  been 
established  upon  any  one  of  the  irrigated  farms. 

Because  of  this  rapid  shifting  of  population,  perma- 
nent development  does  not  proceed  with  as  great  rapidity 
as  anticipated  and  the  irrigation  manager  is  balked 
in  his  efforts  at  bringing  about  a  better  cultivation  of 
the  soil,  notably  because  many  of  the  original  entrymen 
upon  the  irrigation  projects  were  without  financial  means, 
while  others  living  in  nearby  towns  attempted  to  con- 
duct some  business  in  town  and  run  the  farm  as  aside 
issue.  These  persons  quickly  found  that  this  was  im- 
practicable. Farming  requires  all  of  the  ordinary  man's 
time  and  energy,  and  few  men  can  successfully  carry 
on  two  distinct  classes  of  business. 

Community  Cooperation. — Under  earlier  pioneer  con- 
ditions in  irrigation  development,  there  was  a  spirit 
of  cooperation  in  the  community,  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  people  settling  together  along  a  stream  in  the  arid 
region  were  usually  bound  together  by  ties  of  friendship 
of  former  neighborhood  association.  The  common  dif- 
ficulties and  dangers  brought  about  a  high  degree  of 
mutual  protection  and  the  communities  in  which  some 
effective  cooperation  did  not  exist  were  soon  wiped  out. 

The  small  irrigation  canals  were  those  built  by  this 
cooperative  effort  and  were  thus  operated,  success  de- 
pending upon  mutual  support  and  assistance.  There 
also  grew  up  the  development  of  community  methods 
of  handling  products  and  cooperation  in  marketing  them. 

38 


THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT 

In  the  cases  where  irrigation  works  are  built  by  cor- 
porations or  by  the  government,  and  settlers  are  attracted 
from  all  parts  of  the  earth,  the  same  degree  of  com- 
munity life  is  not  possible  at  the  outset.  The  result 
has  been  a  more  complete  individualism,  which,  bene- 
ficial in  some  ways,  has  been  injurious  in  others.  Under 
the  older  systems  it  was  usual  for  the  community  to 
appoint  its  own  watermaster,  who  saw  to  it  that  water 
was  turned  to  the  fields  of  the  various  owners.  Under 
the  larger  corporate  system,  however,  the  farmers  on 
an  irrigation  lateral  are  not  neighbors  in  the  full  sense 
of  the  term.  They  do  not  have  the  same  interest  in 
each  other's  success  and  it  has  rarely  been  possible  for 
them  to  join  together  in  distributing  water  fairly  among 
themselves.  It  may  take  a  generation  for  them  to  learn 
those  lessons  of  mutual  respect  and  forbearance  in 
water  distribution  which  the  pioneers  were  forced  to 
adopt  in  face  of  failure. 

From  this  it  results  that  in  the  large  irrigation  systems 
built  by  private  capital  or  by  the  Government,  the 
method  of  distribution  of  water  must  be  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  that  practiced  by  the  cooperative  irrigators. 
The  water  must  be  taken  to  each  man's  farm,  because 
if  left  to  be  distributed  among  a  small  group,  there  is 
always  complaint  that  the  man  at  the  end  of  the  lateral, 
or  the  weaker  member  of  the  community,  does  not 
get  his  share.  It  is  necessary  to  have  some  one  strong 
central  authority  to  whom  this  man  can  appeal  for  pro- 
tection against  the  propensities  of  his  neighbors  to  take 
his  share  of  the  water. 

Success  is  Gradual. — The  farmers  as  a  whole  attain  a 
slow  but  gradual  increase  in  the  value  of  their  farms  and 
products  in  spite  of  the  frequent  changes  and  failures 

39 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

• 

which  appear  on  the  surface.  They  begin  with  land 
which  has  little,  if  any,  real  value  beyond  the  expense 
incurred  in  bringing  water  to  it.  They  make  this 
land  produce  crops  which  in  the  course  of  a  few  years 
create  the  basis  for  a  permanent  income.  As  before 
stated,  the  crop  yield  and  its  market  value  fluctuate 
within  wide  limits,  the  years  of  scanty  production  and 
good  prices  being  followed  by  larger  crop  yield  and  low 
prices.  These  oscillate  backward  and  forward  with  more 
or  less  regularity,  but  constantly  make  steady  upward 
growth. 

It  is  desirable  to  have  from  time  to  time  an  inventory 
or  taking  account  of  stock  of  the  real  conditions  to  make 
apparent  the  fact  that  there  is  this  gradual  increase  in 
true  values.  Otherwise  there  is  apt  to  be  discourage- 
ment because  of  the  fact  that  one  year  did  not  appear 
to  be  as  profitable  as  the  preceding.  While  this  may 
be  the  case  for  any  particular  year  or  locality,  yet 
taking  the  whole  body  of  farmers,  it  will  be  found  that 
they  have  advanced  materially  during  four  or  five  years. 

From  the  conditions  before  stated,  of  time  required 
to  settle  a  project,  the  shifting  of  the  settlers  and  lack 
of  capital,  it  necessarily  happened  that  there  has  been 
complaint  of  irrigation  in  general,  also  of  the  climate 
and  country,  and  particularly  of  the  men  who  built 
the  works,  and  are  operating  them.  The  latter,  being 
on  the  ground,  are  the  visible  evidences  of  an  organi- 
zation or  institution  which  induced  or  permitted  settle- 
ment, and  naturally  are  held  immediately  responsible  for 
all  failures. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  project  manager  and  his  assist- 
ants to  study  fairly  and  impartially  the  needs  of  the 
settlers  and  to  meet  their  needs  as  far  as  practicable. 

40 


THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT 

As  a  result  of  study  of  many  score  of  individual  cases, 
it  is  found  that  most  unfavorable  reports  come  from 
men  who  are  not  actually  living  on  their  farms  and 
cultivating  them,  but  who  regard  farming  as  a  sort  of 
secondary  occupation.  They  are  the  men,  for  example, 
who  live  in  town  and  try  to  make  a  living  through  the 
practice  of  some  trade  or  profession. 

The  real  farmer,  who  is  devoting  his  entire  thoughts 
and  energies  to  his  farm,  rarely  has  time  to  complain 
even  if  he  has  cause,  and  is  usually  too  independent  to 
air  his  grief.  On  the  other  hand,  the  type  of  man  who 
spends  most  of  his  time  at  the  corner  grocery  is  full  of 
dissatisfaction  with  the  weather,  the  country,  the  crops, 
the  railroads,  and  all  other  factors,  and  usually  takes 
sufficient  time  to  make  this  fully  known  throughout  the 
community. 

The  great  majority  of  the  farmers  on  any  well-es- 
tablished project  are  and  must  be  active,  conscientious, 
hard-working  men.  They  and  their  families  are  under- 
taking a  work  which  although  primarily  for  their  own 
support,  indirectly  is  of  the  highest  value  to  the  country. 
They  are  entitled  to  great  consideration  and  respect, 
and  even  though  this  were  not  required  by  ordinary 
courtesy  among  men,  it  would  be  by  the  fact  that  they 
belong  to  the  class  who  are  the  mainstay  of  free  institu- 
tions. 

Encouragement  of  New  Men. — A  most  important 
detail  of  the  work  of  the  irrigation  manager  is  that  of 
giving  proper  encouragement  to  the  homeseekers  or  to 
the  new  men  on  the  project,  avoiding  on  the  one  hand 
excessive  optimism,  which  ultimately  must  lead  to, dis- 
couragement, and  on  the  other  the  pessimistic  attitude 
which  points  out  only  the  difficulties  and  failures  which 

41 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

have  followed.  Considerable  tact  and  patience  are  re- 
quired in  this,  as  the  average  farmer  or  settler  has  a 
vague  conception  of  irrigation  and  is  largely  ignorant  of 
the  difficulties  connected  with  the  handling  of  the  water. 
Thus,  he  is  apt  to  go  to  one  extreme  or  the  other  in 
assuming  that  the  application  of  the  water  is  a  matter 
requiring  extraordinary  labor  or  skill,  or  that  it  consists 
merely  in  opening  a  gate  and  letting  the  water  flow 
to  the  land,  while  he  is  busy  elsewhere  or  is  sitting 
under  a  tree  watching  it  flow. 

Experience  has  shown  that  much  of  the  cause  of 
misapprehension  on  a  project  can  be  removed  if  the 
project  manager  or  his  principal  assistant  can  take 
the  time  to  visit  the  individual  irrigator  on  his  farm, 
particularly  in  the  case  of  a  new  man  who  is  not  yet 
accustomed  to  his  surroundings.  It  is  highly  important 
that  the  project  manager  shall  lay  out  his  own  work 
so  that  this  can  be  done  and  that  he  may  be  personally 
acquainted  on  the  ground.  Public  meetings  or  confer- 
ences will  not  accomplish  this,  as  at  such  meetings  it 
is  rarely  possible  to  have  the  true  conditions,  properly 
developed;  nor  can  this  be  done  as  well  in  the  project 
office  as  at  the  home  of  the  settler.  There  his  confi- 
dence may  be  more  quickly  gained  as  well  as  a  first- 
hand knowledge  of  his  needs.  An  examination  of  the  dif- 
ficulties on  the  ground  enables  an  experienced  manager 
to  adjust  innumerable  little  matters  which  in  time 
might  become  aggravating. 

Diffusing  Information. — Every  reasonable  effort  should 
be  made  by  the  irrigation  manager  and  his  assistants 
to  remove  all  just  cause  for  criticism  and  to  furnish  in- 
formation, such  as  will  relieve  all  misapprehension  of 
the  facts.  Emphasis  should  be  placed  upon  civility  of 

42 


THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT 

manner  in  answering  questions,  even  though  the  question 
itself  may  not  be  wholly  pertinent  or  intelligible.  The 
employees  of  an  irrigation  service  should  try  to  maintain 
a  high  standard  of  courtesy  in  this  regard,  even  under 
exasperating  conditions.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  average  farmer  does  not  understand  the  more 
or  less  technical  phrases  with  reference  to  the  measure- 
ment and  flow  of  water,  and  has  less  knowledge  of  the 
fundamentals  of  land  and  water  laws. 

Many  of  the  questions  asked  are  those  which  cannot 
be  answered  fully  by  any  person  in  the  field,  as  they 
relate  frequently  to  laws  and  decisions.  In  such  cases, 
if  the  question  is  apparently  asked  in  good  faith  and  is 
not  merely  the  result  of  idle  curiosity,  the  questioner 
should  be  asked  to  write  out  the  question,  so  that  he 
may  state  the  necessary  facts,  and  send  the  question 
directly  to  the  central  office.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  many  such  questions  relate  to  conditions  which 
have  not  yet  been  decided  and  it  is  not  possible  in 
all  cases  to  give  a  definite  reply  until  the  particular  case 
has  been  passed  upon. 

Often  the  inquiries  are  not  put  in  such  form  as  to 
be  wholly  intelligible,  nor  is  the  spirit  in  which  they  are 
asked  one  which  is  conducive  to  a  frank  discussion. 
Not  every  well-disposed  farmer  is  blessed  with  such 
equanimity  that  he  does  not  become  annoyed  at  what 
seem  to  him  to  be  unreasonable  requirements  of  law 
or  of  regulation  regarding  the  distribution  of  water. 
The  questions  he  asks  are  sometimes  put  in  an  offensive 
manner.  The  attempt  should  be  made,  however,  to 
treat  the  question  as  put  in  good  faith  and  to  try  to 
give  a  reply,  showing  clearly  that  the  matter  in  hand 
is  not  one  which  is  within  the  power  of  the  local  man 

43 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

to  answer,  avoiding  at  the  same  time  argument  and 
confining  the  reply  to  a  courteous  presentation  of  the 
fact  that  such  matters  are  outside  of  the  province  of  the 
irrigation  manager. 

The  manner  of  reply  should  always  be  that  indicating 
an  interest  on  the  part  of  the  employees  in  the  welfare 
of  the  individual  making  the  inquiry  and  of  the  project 
as  a  whole.  The  "  don't  care  "  style  of  conversation 
should  be  avoided.  Sometimes  a  simple  explanation 
volunteered  in  the  proper  spirit  will  suffice  to  clarify 
matters;  a  "  soft  answer"  on  the  part  of  an  employee 
even  to  a  farmer  who  may  seem  to  be  of  the  most  re- 
fractory kind  may  chance  to  "  turn  away  wrath  "  and 
make  more  effective  the  work  of  the  organization. 

In  the  operation  of  all  large  machinery,  whether 
composed  of  metal  or  of  men,  there  must  be  the  use  of 
a  proper  amount  of  lubricating  material  to  prevent 
heating  of  the  bearings.  In  the  transaction  of  ordi- 
nary business  it  has  been  found  that  the  use  of  courte- 
ous phrases  and  self-control,  the  avoidance  of  argument, 
are  the  lubricants  which  enable  large  business  to  be  trans- 
acted rapidly  and  smoothly.  In  short,  courtesy  is  as 
necessary  in  the  points  of  contact  in  an  organization  as 
oil  is  in  the  bearings  of  a  steam-shovel  or  automobile. 

It  is  highly  important  that  the  manager  of  a  project 
have  such  knowledge  or  appreciation  of  agriculture 
that  his  attitude  toward  the  farmers  is  sympathetic. 
At  the  same  time  this  sympathy  with  the  farmers' 
troubles  should  not  be  confused  with  weakness,  as  the 
successful  manager  must  display  a  firmness  of  purpose 
to  a  degree  rarely  called  upon  in  other  occupations. 
In  choosing  his  assistants  he  must  exercise  great  care, 
as  a  tactless  or  careless  canal-rider  may  work  infinite 

44 


THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT 

mischief.  At  the  same  time  the  manager,  while  appre- 
ciative of  the  difficulties  of  farming,  must  hold  fast  to  the 
underlying  principles  of  water  distribution  and  not  be 
guilty  of  conceding  where  such  concession  is  opposed  to 
sound  policy. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  LEGAL  ASPECT 

THE  engineer  or  business  man  who  is  placed  in  re- 
sponsible charge  of  an  irrigation  project  has  not  only 
many  duties  connected  with  the  purely  physical  side  of 
maintaining  the  works  and  of  distributing  the  water, 
but  also  he  has  dealings  with  hundreds  of  individuals. 
Growing  out  of  these  relations  are  almost  innumerable 
matters  pertaining  to  legal  requirements;  the  manager 
must  continually  exercise  discretion  in  answering  ques- 
tions of  mixed  legal  and  physical  faot. 

Importance  of  General  Knowledge. — While  it  is  not 
expected  that  the  manager  should  be  a  lawyer,  yet  he 
must  know  enough  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  water 
laws,  at  least,  to  be  able  to  state  these  clearly  and  to 
avoid  litigation,  especially  over  trivial  matters.  There 
is  a  saying  in  the  irrigated  West  that  "  water  is  worse 
than  whisky  in  making  trouble.'''  There  is  also  another 
phrase,  that  of  "  winter  friendship,"  implying  that  dur- 
ing the  crop  season  every  man  is  at  warfare  with  his  neigh- 
bor, and  it  is  only  after  the  crop  season  is  over  that 
friendly  relations  are  reestablished.  This  condition 
arises  from  the  fact  that  the  water  laws  in  some  of  the 
states  are  quite  imperfect,  being  unsuited  to  the  needs 
of  the  people.  There  are  few  states  in  the  arid  West 
in  which  there  has  been  provided  a  well-considered 
and  logical  body  of  legislation  and  machinery  for  its 

46 


THE  LEGAL  ASPECT 

enforcement.  Many  of  the  laws  are  the  results  of 
court  decisions,  each  of  these  arising  usually  from  some 
peculiar  case.  Thus  they  have  often  been  apparently 
contradictory  and  inapplicable  to  ordinary  affairs. 

There  are  certain  well-established  fundamentals,  how- 
ever, which  should  be  recognized  in  every  irrigated 
region,  namely,  those  pertaining  to  the  right  to  appro- 
priate and  take  water  from  a  stream,  also  the  superi- 
ority of  prior  appropriations  and  the  limitation  of  all 
appropriations  to  beneficial  use. 

In  any  general  statement,  it  is,  of  course,  impossible 
to  cover  the  intricacies  of  the  subject  and  in  fact  it  is 
desirable  to  keep  out  of  these  and  to  try  to  obtain  a  broad 
view  of  some  of  those  matters  which  are  fundamental 
in  the  management  of  projects  of  various  kinds.  In  the 
following  pages  these  are  touched  upon  in  a  broad  way, 
simply  as  indications  of  the  questions  which  have  been 
large  in  the  minds  of  various  managers. 

Water  Rights. — The  extent  and  limitation  of  water 
rights  is  a  subject  of  never-ending  discussion  in  many 
irrigated  communities.  Through  the  lapse  of  time, 
the  more  important  of  these  questions  gradually  become 
settled,  but  in  minor  details  they  continue  to  arise.  In 
order  to  discuss  them  intelligently,  especially  with  men 
from  the  humid  region,  it  is  necessary  to  have  clearly 
in  mind  that  the  conditions  which  have  prevailed  in  the 
older  states,  notably  those  pertaining  to  riparian  rights, 
do  not  exist  in  the  arid  West. 

Most  of  the  states  of  the  Union,  excepting  those  within 
the  arid  region,  have  adopted  in  one  form  or  another 
the  principles  of  English  common  law  regarding  waters, 
the  effect  of  which  is  to  safeguard  to  the  owner  of  land 
through  or  along  which  a  stream  flows  the  continua- 

47 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

tion  of  this  stream  undiminished  in  quantity  and  un- 
changed in  quality.  This  conception,  which  has  grad- 
ually crystallized  into  law  in  most  English-speaking 
countries,  is  opposed  to  the  conservation  and  use  of 
the  waters  of  the  arid  region.  If  put  into  effect,  it  would 
prevent  the  irrigation  of  any  considerable  amount  of 
land,  as  the  watering  of  such  land  must  necessarily 
result  in  diminishing  the  flow  of  some  stream. 

In  a  few  of  the  Western  states,  particularly  California, 
which  has  an  arid  and  a  humid  portion  originally  settled 
by  different  types  of  people,  there  is  more  or  less  conflict 
of  law  and  of  court  decision.  For  example,  in  the  north- 
ern or  humid  parts  of  the  state,  there  has  been  a  tendency 
to  adhere  to  the  doctrine  of  riparian  rights,  while  in  the 
far  southern,  especially  in  the  localities  settled  by 
Spanish-speaking  people,  the  doctrine  of  appropriation 
and  use  of  the  water  was  early  adopted*  In  other  states, 
h  *wever,  which  are  wholly  within  the  arid  region,  the  com- 
mon practice  confirmed  by  legislation  has  been  for  the 
first  comer  to  appropriate  and  take  for  use  on  his  land 
as  much  water  as  he  needed;  the  next  comer  taking  a 
portion  of  what  was  left,  and  so  on,  the  first  in  time 
being  first  in  right,  and  this  right  being  limited  by  bene- 
ficial use  on  the  land. 

There  is  also  a  difference  to  be  recognized  in  these 
rights.  Uses  of  water  for  domestic  and  municipal  supplies 
are  superior  to  those  for  irrigation.  In  turn,  irrigation 
is  superior  to  manufacturing  and  development  of  power, 
so  that  in  case  of  conflict  there  is  usually  first  considered 
the  needs  for  the  support  of  human  and  animal  life,  next 
those  for  food  supply  and  the  growing  of  plants,  and 
third,  the  industries. 

I.  The  irrigation  manager  can  hardly  be  expected  to  go 

48 


THE  LEGAL  ASPECT 

into  these  matters  in  detail,  but  he  should  at  least  have 
clearly  in  mind  a  few  of  the  fundamentals  and  be  fairly 
well  acquainted  with  the  state  laws  and  decisions  con- 
cerning the  water  rights  pertaining  to  his  particular 
project. 

Beneficial  use. — The  Reclamation  Act  of  June  17,  1902, 
concisely  states  the  maxim  "  that  the  right  to  the  use  of 
water  acquired  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  shall  be 
appurtenant  to  the  land  irrigated  and  beneficial  use  shall 
be  the  basis,  the  measure,  and  the  limit  of  the  right." 
In  other  words,  although  a  man  may  have  acquired  an 
amount  of  water  equal  say  to  three  acre-feet  in  depth  on 
his  land,  yet  if  through  any  cause,  such  as  seepage,  his 
land  does  not  require  three  acre-feet,  he  cannot  sell  or 
dispose  of  the  excess,  but  must  confine  his  demands  to 
that  amount  of  water  which  he  can  beneficially  apply, 
any  excess  going  back  into  the  general  stock  to  be  utilized 
by  those  next  in  order  of  time. 

At  a  conference  in  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  in  November, 
1913,  a  definition  of  beneficial  use  was  attempted  as 
follows: 

A  water  user  with  a  vested  water  right  limited  to  beneficial 
use  is  entitled  to  that  amount  of  water  that  will  render  him 
a  reasonable  maximum  amount  of  good  with  a  reasonably 
economic  handling  of  the  water.  Since  he  has  acquired  his 
vested  right  from  the  laws  of  his  State,  he  is  entitled  to  pro- 
tection of  that  right  by  the  State;  but  it  is  his  duty  to  the 
State,  and  the  people  of  the  State  have  the  right  to  demand 
of  him  that  he  use  every  reasonable  method  to  reduce  the 
amount  of  water  required  to  a  minimum. 

This  demand  requires  the  water  user: 

a.  To  make  reasonable  preparation  of  the  ground  surface 
for  irrigation. 

49 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

b.  To  use  good  judgment  in  selecting  appropriate  methods 
of  applying  the  water  to  the  ground. 

c.  To  prepare  reasonably  efficient  dikes,  ditches  and  struc- 
tures to  get  the  water  over  the  land  in  such  a  way  as  to  reduce 
the  underground  losses  to  a  minimum. 

d.  To  irrigate  the  ground  with  such  a  head  and  at  such 
intervals  as  to  require  a  minimum  use  of  water  for  proper 
irrigation. 

e.  To   cultivate   the   irrigated  ground  when  practicable  to 
prevent  undue  losses  from  evaporation;    in  some  cases  pos- 
sibly to  govern  the  character  of  crops  to  be  grown. 

It  is  evident  that  the  reasonable  degree  of  perfection 
of  each  of  these  requirements  will  vary  with  the  locality 
and  with  different  changing  conditions  in  each  locality, 
so  that  the  beneficial  use  of  water  is  a  variable. 

Economical  Use. — Since  the  water  supply  available  for 
irrigation  in  the  Western  states  is  adequate  for  only  a 
relatively  small  percentage  of  the  entire  irrigable  acreage, 
the  fundamental  standard  of  economical  use  must  be  the 
financial  results  accomplished  per  acre-foot  of  water  ap- 
plied rather  than  the  yield  per  acre  irrigated.  It,  there- 
fore, becomes  necessary  and  desirable  to  impress  irri- 
gators  with  the  fact  that  in  general  the  largest  net  profits 
per  acre-foot  of  water  applied  are  obtained,  not  from 
using  excessive  quantities,  but  from  more  careful  use  of 
relatively  small  quantities. 

In  developing  a  more  economical  standard  for  the  use 
of  water,  it  should  not  be  presumed  that  established 
rights  can  be  limited  to  less  water  than  they  would  carry 
under  the  accepted  rule  of  beneficial  use;  yet  by  con- 
stantly bearing  in  mind  that  the  ideal  ultimately  neces- 
sary must  be  the  highest  net  profit  per  unit  of  water 
applied,  irrigators  may  gradually  be  induced  in  many 

50 


THE  LEGAL  ASPECT 

instances  to  obtain  for  themselves  these  results,  and  those 
undertaking  the  construction  of  new  projects  may  be  led 
so  to  design  their  systems  as  to  provide  a  liberal  water 
supply  during  the  development  period  with  a  view  to 
ultimate  development  based  on  economic  use. 

In  the  history  of  irrigation  in  this  country,  there  has 
been  evident  a  gradual  but  very  definite  evolution  in  the 
ideas  of  what  constitutes  proper  use  of  water.  While 
the  use  of  water  for  irrigation  was  at  first  a  relatively 
unimportant  one,  its  importance  now  overshadows  all 
other  uses,  save  that  of  domestic  supply. 

In  the  course  of  this  evolution,  the  doctrine  of  bene- 
ficial use  has  become  established,  but  in  future  develop- 
ment this  doctrine  must  in  many  cases  merge  into,  or  be 
supplanted  by  that  of  economic  use. 

"  The  doctrine  of  beneficial  use  looks  to  individual 
interest;  that  of  economic  use  to  the  general  welfare  of 
society  as  a  whole.  So  far  as  possible,  water  charges, 
systems  of  distribution,  and  regulations  should  be  so 
adjusted  as  to  make  the  interest  of  the  individual  water 
user  coincide  with  this  public  interest." 

Rights  of  Way. — The  canal  system  and  various  struc- 
tures occupy  certain  tracts  or  parcels  of  land,  the  title  to 
which  has  presumably  been  obtained  before  the  works 
are  completed.  The  character  of  ownership  or  posses- 
sion of  each  tract  should  be  carefully  scrutinized  by  the 
irrigation  manager  to  ascertain  whether  the  right  of  way 
involves  the  complete  ownership  of  the  land  or  is  simply 
an  easement  for  a  particular  purpose. 

In  the  case  of  complete  ownership  of  the  lands  acquired 
for  right  of  way,  vigilance  must  be  exercised  to  see  that 
encroachments  are  not  made  upon  these  lands.  There 
is  a  tendency  for  individuals  to  erect  small  structures, 

51 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

bridges,  water  wheels,  outbuildings,  and  various  devices 
upon  the  right  of  way,  and  by  sufferance  obtain  vested 
rights  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  use  of  the  property.  Sooner 
or  later,  there  is  necessity  for  changes  or  repairs  to  the 
canal,  and  these  innumerable  small  structures  become 
obstacles  to  the  economic  conduct  of  the  work. 

To  guard  against  such  contingencies,  the  character  of 
the  title  to  the  right  of  way  should  be  kept  fully  in  mind, 
and  the  limits  plainly  marked  with  permanent  stones 
or  monuments,  so  that  there  can  be  little  opportunity 
for  controversy  to  arise  regarding  the  exact  position  of 
the  boundaries.  Wherever  possible,  the  right  of  way 
of  the  main  canal  and  of  its  principal  branches  should 
be  fenced  to  prevent  encroachment  of  cattle  and  to 
establish  beyond  question  the  matter  of  proprietorship 
and  control  of  the  land. 

Desert  Land  Act. — The  legal  basis  for  title  to  irrigated 
land  in  the  arid  region  rests  on  a  number  of  federal  laws, 
the  most  important  of  which  are  the  Desert  Land  Act, 
the  Carey  Act,  and  the  Reclamation  Act.  In  addition, 
large  areas  of  land  have  been  acquired  by  individuals 
under  the  terms  of  the  Homestead  Act  and  other  acts, 
and  by  corporations  under  the  grants  made  to  trans- 
continental railroads  or  to  states,  of  the  swamped  and 
overflowed  lands  donated  to  the  latter  for  purposes  of 
reclamation. 

The  Desert  Land  Act  was  the  first  distinct  recognition 
•by  Congress  of  the  need  of  irrigation  in  the  development 
of  the  West.  It  provided  in  effect  that  any  individual 
might  select  640  acres,  afterwards  cut  down  to  320 
acres,  on  condition  of  irrigating  a  portion  of  this  land. 
The  terms  are  very  liberally  interpreted  and  under 
them  large  areas  of  lands  passed  into  the  hands  of  indi- 

52 


THE  LEGAL  ASPECT 

viduals  and  corporations  without  the  acutal  reclama- 
tion and  cultivation  of  any  considerable  portion.  In 
fact,  at  the  present  time,  the  great  bulk  of  the  land  taken 
up  under  the  terms  of  the  Desert  Land  Act  still  remains 
in  its  desert  condition  and  is  being  held  either  for  spec- 
ulative purposes  or  forms  the  larger  part  of  extensive 
grazing  ranges  of  cattle  and  sheep  companies. 

It  is  unfortunately  the  case  that  the  lands  which  have 
been  granted  to  the  states  for  reclamation,  such  as  the 
swamped  and  overflowed  lands,  and  those  transferred  to 
individuals  under  the  Desert  Land  Act  under  conditions 
of  irrigation,  have  both  failed  largely  of  that  purpose, 
because  of  the  lack  of  enforcement  of  the  requirement 
of  actual  reclamation  and  the  substitution  therefor  of 
so-called  "  constructive  "  reclamation  in  the  sense  that 
proof  has  been  offered  and  accepted  without  actual 
verification  of  the  facts. 

The  irrigation  manager  is  concerned  in  this  matter 
largely  in  knowing  that  certain  lands  whose  title  has  been 
obtained  through  reclamation  under  the  terms  of  the 
Desert  Land  Act,  have  not  necessarily  been  reclaimed, 
and  do  not,  therefore,  always  possess  complete  water  right. 

Carey  Act. — Under  the  terms  of  the  Carey  Act  of 
1894,  certain  Western  states  were  allowed  to  select  up- 
wards of  a  million  acres,  lately  increased  in  some  cases 
to  two  or  three  million,  under  condition  that  the  state 
would  arrange  for  their  irrigation  either  directly  by  the 
use  of  state  funds  or  by  agreement  with  some  corpora- 
tion. The  latter  has  been  the  invariable  rule;  the 
lands  thus  selected  by  the  state  have  been  the  subject 
largely  of  speculation  by  investors  more  interested  in 
the  immediate  profits  of  handling  the  lands  than  in  the 
actual  development  of  them. 

53 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

The  state  officials  are  supposed  to  safeguard  the  in- 
terests of  the  future  settlers  and  see  to  it  that  the  works 
built  are  properly  planned  and  completed;  that  there 
is  an  adequate  water  supply,  and  that  the  costs  to  the 
settlers  for  water  are  reasonable.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  state  officials  charged  with  this  duty  are  those  who 
are  already  overloaded  with  other  duties,  who  have 
no  special  knowledge  or  experience  in  this  class  of  work, 
and  who,  through  lack  of  continuity  in  office,  cannot 
make  use,  for  any  considerable  time,  of  the  experience 
gained. 

The  results  which  have  followed  the  attempts  made 
under  the  Carey  Act  illustrate  the  fact  that  a  difficult 
and  complicated  business  of  this  kind  cannot  properly  be 
intrusted  to  ex  officio  trustees  or  directors  elected  for 
political  reasons  and  serving  for  short  terms.  It  is  as 
impossible  to  achieve  good  results  in  irrigation  as  it 
would  be  to  operate  a  manufacturing  establishment  or 
a  railroad  line,  under  similar  conditions  of  control. 

The  consequences  have  been  as  might  be  expected: 
many  experiments  have  been  made,  large  sums  invested, 
some  works  completed,  most  of  the  projects  in  bank- 
ruptcy, with  loss  of  credit  for  irrigation  bonds  or  similar 
securities.  In  time,  after  reorganization  and  several 
new  starts,  some  of  the  works  have  been  put  in  fairly 
good  shape.  Meantime,  many  of  the  settlers  have 
become  disheartened,  and  the  irrigation  managers  in 
charge  of  the  works  have  had  extreme  difficulty  in 
developing  any  consistent  system  of  operation  and  main- 
tenance under  the  changing  administration  or  control 
of  the  work. 

Legal  questions  which  arise  in  this  connection  are  of 
such  far-reaching  and  difficult  character  that  the  best 

54 


THE  LEGAL  ASPECT 

of  legal  talent  is  none  too  good.  The  irrigation  manager 
must  have  access  to  competent  and  well-informed  lawyers 
experienced  not  only  in  the  state  laws  regarding  irriga- 
tion and  Carey  Act  projects,  but  also  with  the  federal 
laws  having  to  do  with  the  acquisition  of  title  under 
the  conditions  existing. 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  for  the  irrigation  manager 
to  have  more  than  a  very  general  oversight  in  these 
matters,  but  he  must  be  kept  continually  informed  on 
the  details  and  seek  for  guidance  in  order  to  keep  as 
clear  as  possible  of  the  almost  innumerable  complica- 
tions which  arise  where  financial  troubles  exist  and 
where  the  settlers  feel  that  they  have  not  been  fairly 
treated. 

Reclamation  Act. — Under  the  terms  of  the  Reclamation 
Act  of  June  17,  1902,  the  United  States  has  invested  cer- 
tain funds  derived  from  the  disposal  of  the  public  lands 
in  the  construction  of  irrigation  works.  The  lands  which 
at  the  time  of  the  beginning  of  the  works  were  in  public 
ownership  are  disposed  of  under  the  terms  of  the  Home- 
stead Act  to  actual  settlers  and  in  small  tracts.  The 
Government,  having  ample  funds  for  building  the  works, 
has  constructed  them  with  a  degree  of  thoroughness  and 
permanence  not  practicable  for  the  corporate  investor.  It 
has  thus  set  certain  standards  of  construction  which  have 
been  followed  in  part  by  later  private  builders.  It  has 
also  given  more  attention  to  the  question  of  providing 
an  adequate  water  supply.  Being  relieved  of  all  questions 
of  profit  and  of  interest  returns  on  the  project,  it  has  been 
possible  to  build  substantial  works  at  less  price  to  the 
water  user  than  could  be  done  by  the  private  investor. 

The  irrigation  managers  under  the  Government  works, 
utilizing  the  experience  of  older  organizations,  endeavor 

55 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

to  put  into  effect  systems  of  operation  and  maintenance 
based  upon  sound  agricultural  and  business  practices. 
In  this  respect,  a  standard  has  been  set  as  in  the  case  of 
construction  of  the  works  themselves.  The  legal  ques- 
tions which  come  to  the  cognizance  of  the  manager  are 
relatively  simple  as  compared  to  those  which  may  come 
up  under  the  somewhat  confused  conditions  on  the  larger 
private  projects. 

The  federal  law  itself  is  quite  explicit  as  regards  the 
building  and  operation  of  the  reclamation  works.  The 
acquisition  of  title  by  settlers  under  the  terms  of  the 
Homestead  Act  has  been  the  subject  of  many  decisions, 
so  that  most  of  the  questions  which  arise  have  been  deter- 
mined and  definite  information  and  advice  can  usually  be 
had  on  these  points.  The  manuals  provided  by  the 
General  Land  Office  and  by  the  Reclamation  Service 
enable  the  manager  to  secure  a  fairly  good  idea  of  these 
legal  difficulties  and  while  it  is  not  expected  that  he  will 
be  immediately  involved  in  them,  he  can  at  least  obtain 
such  broad  knowledge  as  to  be  able  to  avoid  some  of  the 
pitfalls  which  exist  where  the  legal  conditions  are  less 
well  known  and  developed. 

Cultivation  Requirements. — The  requirement  of  culti- 
vation imposed  by  the  Desert  Land  Act,  the  Carey  Act 
and  many  similar  laws,  has  been  general  in  character,  and 
has  not  always  been  enforced.  Thus,  relatively  little  of 
the  land,  the  title  to  which  has  passed  from  the  Govern- 
ment under  conditions  of  cultivation,  has  actually  been 
put  to  use  in  producing  crops.  The  object  of  the  men 
in  obtaining  lands  under  these  laws  has  not  always  been 
to  make  a  living  or  a  profit  out  of  the  sale  of  products 
of  the  soil,  but  on  the  contrary  to  gain  for  themselves  the 
unearned  increment  in  value  of  the  lands  by  subdividing 

56 


THE  LEGAL  ASPECT 

and  selling  them  in  small  tracts  or  of  consolidating  them 
in  large  holdings  for  future  advance  in  prices. 

This  condition  should  be  borne  in  mind  in  considering 
the  general  economic  development  of  the  country  and  in 
comparing  statements  of  products  from  areas  alleged  to 
be  reclaimed,  but  not  actually  tilled,  with  the  average 
crop  production  on  well-cultivated  lands.  It  illustrates 
also  the  fact  that  in  all  questions  of  irrigation  manage- 
ment, there  must  be  had  for  guidance  reliable  statistics 
concerning  degree  of  cultivation  and  its  relation  to  the 
actual  amount  of  crop  produced  in  order  to  obtain  intelli- 
gent views  concerning  the  real  benefit  of  irrigation. 

Residence  Requirements. — The  requirements  of  residence, 
as  in  the  case  of  those  of  cultivation,  have  as  a  rule  been 
cut  down  to  the  very  minimum,  and  even  then  have  not 
been  strictly  observed.  On  some  of  the  Carey  Act  pro- 
jects the  minimum  term  of  residence  has  been  as  low 
as  thirty  days,  so  that  it  has  been  possible  for  a  man  living 
in  town  or  in  another  state  to  take  his  summer  vacation 
out  on  his  "  homestead  "  and  acquire  title  by  a  few  weeks 
camping  on  the  selected  spot.  Under  the  terms  of  the 
Reclamation  Act,  however,  actual,  bona  fide  residence  of 
three  years  is  required,  the  theory  being  that  the  expendi- 
ture made  by  the  Government  in  reclaiming  these  lands 
is  justified  only  by  the  acquisition  of  a  resident  citizen- 
ship. If,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Carey  Act  projects,  men 
can  come  out  from  centers  of  population,  spend  a  few 
weeks  on  the  ground,  then  acquire  title,  go  back  to  the 
cities,  there  results  a  sparsely  settled  area  with  a  popu- 
lation composed  mainly  of  tenants.  The  state  is  thus 
deprived  of  the  increase  in  resident  landowning  citizen- 
ship, essential  to  its  continued  prosperity. 

It  is  of  no  particular  benefit  to  the  community  as  a 

57 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

whole  after  the  work  has  been  built  to  have  the  lands 
held  by  non-resident  owners  and  cultivated  by  tenant 
farmers.  The  soil  is  generally  impoverished  under  the 
renting  system.  The  local  improvements  such  as  roads, 
bridges  and  schools  are  neglected,  the  towns  do  not 
receive  normal  growth,  and  the  great  investment  made 
in  bringing  water  to  the  land  is  of  relatively  little  use,  as 
the  irrigation  system  is  not  furnishing  water  to  more  than 
a  small  proportion  of  the  land  which  it  can  supply. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  urged  that  the  requirement  of 
actual  residence  on  the  ground  is  extremely  onerous  and 
that  especially  in  the  case  of  orchard  development,  years 
are  required  before  the  farm  is  put  on  a  producing  basis. 
Meantime,  it  is  asserted,  the  owner  should  be  permitted 
to  live  in  town  or  in  some  other  state  and  put  a  part  of 
his  earnings  into  the  improvement  of  the, farm. 

This  theory  is  excellent  if  it  is  based  on  the  facts, 
but  a  relatively  small  percentage  of  non-resident  owners 
do  invest  their  earnings  effectively  in  their  farms.  Far 
greater  damage  is  being  done  to  the  lands  by  the  care- 
less handling  of  the  soil  and  water  by  renters,  so  that  at 
the  end  of  a  few  years  the  owner  seldom  finds  that  he  has 
a  farm  which  is  worthy  of  his  personal  attention  at  least 
to  the  extent  of  living  upon  it.  When  it  is  considered 
also  that  most  of  the  young  orchards  never  reach  maturity 
and  that,  as  stated  by  horticultural  experts,  probably 
not  more  than  ten  per  cent,  of  the  orchards  which  are 
set  out  on  irrigated  land  have  any  commercial  value, 
the  fallacy  of  this  theory  becomes  apparent. 

The  enforcement  of  the  legal  requirement  of  residence 
on  the  part  of  the  manager  involves,  however,  many 
questions,  especially  where  the  attempt  is  being  made 
to  put  the  newly  irrigated  land  in  fruit.  Where  a  man 

58 


THE  LEGAL  ASPECT 

and  his  family  are  actually  living  upon  the  land,  as  is 
evident  to  the  neighbors  and  to  the  canal-riders  who 
pass  the  place  every  day  or  two,  there  can  be  no  question 
involved,  but,  as  frequently  happens,  the  owner  after 
setting  out  some  trees  spends  perhaps  only  a  few  weeks 
in  the  year  actually  on  the  place,  but  claims  that  his 
family  or  a  portion  of  it  are  residing  there  or  that  he  has 
made  arrangements  with  a  relative,  then  there  are  a  num- 
ber of  very  nice  questions  which  naturally  the  manager 
desires  to  avoid  entering  into  if  possible.  It  is  also 
questionable  whether  the  manager  should  be  held  re- 
sponsible for  the  enforcement  of  the  residence  require- 
ment and  thus  be  compelled  to  be  both  the  prosecuting 
attorney,  judge,  and  jury  in  matters  of  this  kind.  In 
fact,  because  of  his  numerous  other  duties,  this  matter 
of  residence  requirement,  while  kept  clearly  in  mind  by 
the  manager,  should  be  left  to  determination  by  some 
other  authority. 

Size  of  Farm  Units. — The  success  of  the  farmer  is  de- 
pendent more  largely  upon  the  size  of  the  farm  which 
he  attempts  to  cultivate  under  irrigation  than  upon  almost 
any  other  single  factor.  As  a  rule,  most  men  attempt 
to  handle  more  land  than  they  can  properly  cultivate. 
The  man  who  has  sufficient  capital  and  experience  to 
acquire  and  till  40  acres  is  apt  to  use  his  capital  in  making 
first  payments  on  80  acres  and  then  diffuse  his  efforts 
over  the  whole  tract  to  an  extent  such  that  the  yield 
is  less  than  it  would  have  been  had  the  owner  confined 
his  efforts  to  40  acres. 

The  slow  development  of  the  irrigated  regions  is  due 
largely  to  the  fact  that  a  great  proportion  of  the  irri- 
gators  are  attempting  to  pay  for  water  for  80  acres  out 
of  the  products  of  from  20  to  30  acres  which  are  actually 

59 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

well  tilled.  The  men  of  average  means  and  intelligence 
who  are  making  a  success  are  those  who  are  confining 
their  efforts  to  40  acres  or  even  less.  While  there  are  men 
who  can  handle  even  larger  tracts,  yet  these  men  are 
exceptional  and  their  example  cannot  be  urged  as  typical. 

The  Desert  Land  Act  set  the  limit  originally  at  640 
acres  to  be  acquired  by  one  man,  and  later  cut  the  area 
to  320  acres.  At  a  still  later  date  the  fact  became  appar- 
ent that  it  was  impossible  for  a  man  of  ordinary  means  to 
properly  irrigate  this  area  or  any  considerable  part  of 
it.  The  Carey  Act  reduced  the  limit  to  160  acres,  and 
as  the  lawmakers  began  to  appreciate  the  true  conditions 
of  irrigation,  they  finally  in  the  Reclamation  Act  of 
1902  placed  a  limit  which  "  shall  represent  the  acreage 
which  in  the  opinion  of  the  Secretary  may  be  reasonably 
required  for  the  support  of  a  family  upon  the  lands  in 
question."  The  lower  limit  was  originally  40  acres, 
later  reduced  to  10  acres,  when  it  was  appreciated  that 
on  some  of  the  lands,  especially  in  the  southern  arid 
regions  where  the  irrigation  season  extended  throughout 
the  year,  10  acres  are  all  that  are  needed,  under  good 
care,  to  support  a  family. 

The  enforcement  of  legal  requirements  regarding  the 
size  of  farm  units  rarely  comes  to  the  attention  of  the 
manager,  as  after  the  irrigated  land  is  once  subdivided 
and  settlement  has  progressed  there  is  tendency  to 
subdivide  rather  than  to  consolidate  holdings. 

Unlawful  Diversion  of  Water. — One  of  the  most  vex- 
atious problems  encountered  by  irrigation  managers  is 
that  growing  out  of  what  in  plain  language  is  the  steal- 
ing of  water,  or  to  put  it  in  another  way,  the  irregular 
or  unlawful  diversion  of  water  at  times  or  in  quantities 
not  in  accord  with  the  proper  system  or  to  lands  which 

60 


IMMIGRANT  SETTLERS  "READY  TO  MAKE  THE  DESERT  BLOSSOM  " 


SETTLER'S  HOME  AND  CROP. 
The  sandy  soil  produces  heavily  when  first  irrigated. 


THE  LEGAL  ASPECT 

are  not  entitled  to  it.  There  are  innumerable  legal 
questions  which  may  be  involved  and  some  of  these  neces- 
sitate decisions  on  very  fine  points  of  law.  Especially 
during  the  first  few  years  after  an  irrigation  system  is 
completed  and  when  there  is  usually  more  water  pro- 
vided than  there  is  land  ready  for  use,  there  are  many 
attempts  made  by  individuals  to  take  more  water  than 
the  amount  to  which  they  are  entitled,  or  to  evade  pay- 
ment for  that  which  has  been  taken  or  used. 

This  stealing  of  water  and  evasion  of  regulations  or 
payments  is  as  old  as  agriculture  itself.  The  earliest 
known  code  of  laws  found  on  fragments  of  ancient  tab- 
lets attempted  to  deal  with  this  matter.  Human  nature 
of  to-day  is  practically  the  same  as  that  of  the  time  when 
men  began  to  commit  their  ideas  to  writing.  The  water- 
masters  and  local  magistrates  then  as  now  were  con- 
fronted with  the  same  kind  of  questions  and  had  sim- 
ilar difficulties  in  adjusting  conflicting  claims. 

As  time  goes  on  and  each  irrigation  system  comes 
into  more  complete  use,  local  customs  are  established 
and  there  grows  up  a  public  opinion  which  recognizes  the 
need  of  enforcement  of  rules  and  regulations,  gradually 
supporting  the  manager  in  his  efforts.  But  at  all  times 
this  popular  support  drags  behind  the  watermaster's 
standards  or  ideals.  Thus  being  in  advance  of  mature 
popular  opinion,  he  is  peculiarly  exposed  to  attack 
from  the  rear  as  well  as  from  the  front.  By  showing 
clearly  the  evil  effects  to  all  the  people  which  result 
from  permitting  any  one  man  to  take  more  than  his 
share,  he  slowly  convinces  the  majority  that  water  which 
is  flowing  in  the  canals  or  which  appears  to  be  so  plenti- 
ful, cannot  be  freely  taken  and  put  on  the  lands  at 
any  time  or  without  suitable  authority  from  the  man 

61 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

charged  with  its  distribution.  The  only  way  to  do  this 
is  to  have  accurate  records  as  indicated  on  page  104, 
showing  the  amount  of  water  which  is  available  for 
all  the  people  and  the  effect  of  unlawful  or  irregular 
diversion  of  this  in  taking  something  from  the  common 
stock  and  in  depriving  others  of  their  fair  share.  There 
is  always  apt  to  be  more  or  less  local  politics  mixed  up 
in  these  matters,  complicated  sometimes  by  the  ignor- 
ance of  local  magistrates  or  judges  as  to  the  law,  and 
the  necessity  of  its  proper  enforcement.  Many  times 
the  careful  work  of  the  manager  in  detecting  the  theft 
of  water  at  night  has  been  defeated  by  the  indifference 
of  the  public,  but  in  the  long  run  the  efforts  in  this 
direction  are  ultimately  appreciated. 


CHAPTER  V 
OPERATION   ORGANIZATION 

THE  distinctive  features  of  operation  have  been  pre- 
viously described  as  consisting  of  those  details  which 
have  to  do  mainly  with  conveying  and  distributing  and 
measuring  water  to  the  various  users.  The  organiza- 
tion needed  for  this  purpose  is  quite  different  from  that 
required  in  constructing  an  irrigation  system.  Its 
particular  form  as  regards  number  and  character  of 
men  employed,  is  dependent  upon  the  size  of  the  sys- 
tem, the  number  of  acres  served,  and  more  particularly 
upon  the  number  of  different  points  of  delivery,  as  well 
as  upon  the  character  of  the  crops  and  soil.  There  is 
a  certain  similarity  between  all  operating  organizations, 
whether  for  large  or  small  canals,  as  all  must  have  one 
responsible  man  in  charge  who  subdivides  all  'duties 
in  accordance  with  the  conditions  just  noted. 

REQUIREMENTS. — Where  the  irrigable  area  consists  of  a 
large  number  of  small  fields  with  widely  diversified  crops 
and  orchards,  a  relatively  large  number  of  men  are  re- 
quired to  operate  the  system,  far  more,  for  example, 
than  in  a  case  in  Montana  where  on  one  of  the  older 
large  canals  there  are  only  sixty  points  of  delivery  to 
supply  over  12,000  acres,  and  where  there  is  practically 
continuous  flow  to  each  of  these  points  of  delivery.  It 
is  possible  in  this  latter  case  for  one  man  employed  as 
canal-rider  to  visit  these  sixty  points  with  sufficient  fre- 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

quency  to  give  the  necessary  attention.  If,  however, 
this  area  of  12,000  acres  were  divided  into  20-acre 
farms,  there  would  be  possibly  600  points  of  delivery 
with  frequent  changes  at  each  point,  necessitating  per- 
haps ten  men  busily  employed  in  the  place  of  only  one 
partly  occupied. 

OPERATING  FORCE. — The  body  of  men  commonly 
known  as  the  operation  and  maintenance  force  consists 
of  the  irrigation  manager  and  assistants,  whose  prin- 
cipal duty  it  is  to  operate  the  canal  system,  after  the 
construction  force  have  planned  and  built  the  work. 
The  duties  of  operation  are  merged  into  those  of  main- 
tenance, and  frequently  the  same  men  who  are  operat- 
ing the  system  devote  a  large  part  of  the  year,  particularly 
the  winter  season,  to  the  work  of  maintenance.  There 
are  included  in  the  operating  organization  both  field 
and  clerical  employees — the  former  consisting  largely 
of  engineers,  some  of  whom  have  had  experience  in  the 
construction  of  the  work.  All  of  these  men  must  hold 
themselves  in  readiness  to  respond  to  a  call  for  assist- 
ance at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night,  for  the  purpose 
of  repairing  damage  or  to  aid  in  protecting  the  works 
from  injury  by  floods,  fire,  or  any  other  cause. 

Manager. — The  principal  man  in  direct  charge  of  the 
operation  and  maintenance  of  an  irrigation  project  is 
designated  as  the  manager.  He  is  selected  primarily 
for  business  ability,  tact  and  discretion  in  dealing  with 
farmers  and  in  handling  the  problems  presented  in  a 
farming  community.  He  may  have  acquired  experience 
as  an  engineer  or  as  a  senior  clerk  who  has  had  oppor- 
tunity to  demonstrate  his  ability  in  work  of  this  char- 
acter. Under  him  are  usually  two  or  more  assistants, 
each  having  charge  of  separate  canals  or  distinct  portions 

64 


OPERATION  ORGANIZATION 

of  the  project.  For  example,  if  the  canals  are  taken 
out  on  opposite  sides  of  the  river,  it  is  usually  necessary 
to  have  an  assistant  on  the  north  side  and  another  on 
the  south  side.  The  manager  employed  on  Government 
work  usually  holds  an  appointment  in  the  classified 
civil  service. 

Superintendent. — The  principal  assistants  of  the  man- 
ager of  a  large  project  are  known  as  superintendents,  or 
canal  superintendents;  each  reports  to  the  manager 
and  has  direct  charge  of  a  main-line  canal  and  dis- 
tributing system,  or  distinct  unit  of  a  large  irrigation 
project.  Under  their  direction  are  watermasters,  canal- 
riders,  gate-tenders,  mechanics,  and  laborers.  The  super- 
intendents are  usually  men  who  have  had  engineering 
or  technical  training,  and  who  have  been  advanced  for 
their  demonstrated  ability  in  handling  men  and  materials. 

Watermaster. — The  water-master  is  equivalent  to  the 
foreman  of  a  small  body  of  mechanics.  He  reports 
directly  to  the  superintendent,  or  the  manager  where, 
as  in  small  projects,  there  are  no  superintendents.  The 
watermasters  have  direct  oversight  of  the  distribution 
of  the  water  in  certain  large  laterals  and  direct  the 
movement  of  various  canal-riders  and  gate-tenders. 

Canal-rider. — The  canal-riders  are  usually  experienced 
irrigators,  having  the  qualifications  in  education  and 
general  training  equivalent  to  those  of  a  skilled  mechanic. 
These  men  traverse  a  certain  prescribed  line  of  canals 
and  laterals,  giving  personal  attention  to  the  distri- 
bution of  water  to  the  farms,  in  accordance  with  a 
schedule  determined  in  advance  by  the  water-master, 
under  instructions  from  the  superintendent  or  manager. 
The  designation  canal-rider  is  preferred  to  that  of  ditch- 
rider. 

65 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

Patrolman. — On  some  of  the  projects  patrolmen  are 
employed  on  special  occasions,  especially  with  reference 
to  guarding  and  patrolling  points  of  danger  on  the  main 
canal.  As  a  rule  they  are  not  concerned  with  the  dis- 
tribution of  water  but  more  definitely  with  the  protec- 
tion of  property,  especially  at  times  when  the  canal  is 
running  bank  full.  Frequently  they  are  employed 
in  the  night-time,  while  the  canal-riders  perform  similar 
service  during  the  daytime. 

Gate-tender. — Employees  resident  at  or  near  certain 
important  gates,  such  as  those  at  the  outlets  of  reser- 
voirs or  at  the  intake  of  main  canals,  are  designated  as 
gate-tenders.  Their  duty  is  to  regulate  the  gates  in 
accordance  with  instructions,  usually  by  telephone. 
They  are  not  supposed  to  ride  or  patrol  any  considerable 
extent  of  canal. 

Inspector. — One  or  more  inspectors  reporting  directly 
to  the  manager  are  usually  required  on  large  systems. 
They  should  have  the  qualifications  and  experience  of 
a  superintendent  or  watermaster,  and  should  visit  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  system  at  regular  intervals  to  check 
up  the  work  of  the  canal-riders,  note  the  amount  of  water 
being  turned  out  of  each  opening,  and  investigate  any 
complaints  which  may  be  made.  Competent  men  may 
be  detailed  as  inspectors  from  one  project  to  another, 
or  a  watermaster  or  superintendent  may  be  thus  desig- 
nated for  temporary  service. 

SIZE  OF  OPERATING  FORCE. — The  number  of  men  em- 
ployed is  dependent,  as  before  stated,  not  so  much  upon 
the  area  of  the  lands  irrigated  as  upon  the  number  of 
farms  and  of  points  of  delivery.  As  a  rule  one  canal- 
rider  can  look  after  from  fifty  to  sixty  points  of  delivery 
if  the  gates  are  not  changed  oftener  than  every  other 

66 


OPERATION  ORGANIZATION 

day;  and  can  furnish  a  supply  to  3,000  or  4,000  acres  or 
more.  Each  group  of  eight  or  ten  canal-riders  and  gate- 
tenders  on  any  one  large  canal  or  branch  of  an  irrigation 
system  should  be  under  the  supervision  of  a  foreman 
termed,  as  before  stated,  a  watermaster  or  superin- 
tendent, the  latter  reporting  in  turn  to  the  manager  of 
the  system. 

If  there  are  less  than  a  dozen  field  men  necessary  for 
the  operation  of  a  canal  system,  there  may  be  no  neces- 
sity for  superintendents,  and  the  manager  may  be  able 
to  attend  to  all  of  the  duties  which  in  a  larger  system 
must  be  delegated  in  part  to  the  superintendents  and  to 
watermasters.  In  southern  Idaho  it  is  stated  that  the 
number  of  watermasters  and  canal-riders  in  several  of 
the  systems  is  such  that  each  canal-rider  gives  atten- 
tion to  approximately  2,500  acres.  If  every  point  of 
delivery  is  visited  each  day  the  number  of  canal-riders 
is  materially  increased,  but  in  cases  where  the  farms 
are  from  80  acres  to  160  acres,  each,  the  number  is 
reduced. 

On  the  Sunnyside  project  in  the  state  of  Washington, 
supplying  3,000  farms,  aggregating  60,000  acres,  there  are 
two  superintendents,  five  assistants,  or  watermasters — 
most  of  them  having  engineering  education — and  five 
clerical  employees,  with  nineteen  canal-riders  or  patrol- 
men, making  in  all  thirty-one  men,  or  about  one  man 
for  2,000  acres,  or  one  canal-rider  for  about  3,000 
acres. 

The  size  of  the  clerical  force  is  dependent  largely  upon 
the  detail  with  which  the  records  are  kept.  As  a  rule  it 
is  wiser  to  have  at  first  too  many  than  too  few  records — 
cutting  these  down  as  experience  shows  that  certain 
details  are  not  needed.  For  convenience  of  compari- 

67 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

son  of  size  of  force,  canal  systems  may  be  classified  as 
follows: 

(a)  Those  supplying  water  for  2,500  or  more  irrigators 
and  watering  lands  through  several  large  canals,  gen- 
erally on  opposite  sides  of  the  river,  thus  irrigating 
100,000  acres  or  more:  Here,  there  will  usually  be  re- 
quired a  manager  with  at  least  two  superintendents, 
each  in  charge  of  a  large  canal,  and  under  each  super- 
intendent two  or  more  watermasters  having  oversight 
of  a  large  branch  canal,  and  under  each  watermaster 
eight  or  ten  or  more  canal-riders.  Thus,  this  system 
will  consist  of  fifty  or  more  canal-riders  and  gate-tenders, 
half  a  dozen  watermasters  or  foremen,  two  or  more  super- 
intendents, and  the  manager  at  the  head  of  all; 

(6)  Canal  systems  watering  from  40,000  to  100,000 
acres  with  one  manager,  two  superintendents,  and 
twenty  or  more  canal-riders  and  gate-tenders; 

(c)  Smaller  systems  in  which  there  is  only  a  manager 
in  direct  charge  of  all  of  the  work,  supervising  eight  or 
ten  canal-riders,  and  performing  most  of  the  field  and 
clerical  work  himself. 

There  is  always  a  considerable  amount  of  business 
to  be  transacted  in  connection  with  any  canal  system, 
and  enough  men  must  be  provided  so  that  the  manager 
may  spend  half  or  two-thirds  of  his  time  in  the  field  and 
be  relieved  of  most  of  the  clerical  work  by  a  suitable 
office  force.  The  superintendents  in  turn  must  also 
spend  all  of  the  daylight  on  the  ground  and  not  be  bur- 
dened with  office  work  to  an  extent  that  they  must  neglect 
the  active  field  supervision.  There  is  probably  no  greater 
mistake  which  can  be  made  than  in  neglecting  to  have  a 
thoroughly  competent  business  man  at  the  head  of  the 
organization;  one  who  has  had  engineering  training  or 

68 


OPERATION  ORGANIZATION 

experience  and  who  can  give  his  undivided  time  to  the 
field  work  without  being  hampered  by  the  endless 
routine  of  petty  details. 

QUALIFICATIONS  OF  CANAL-RIDERS. — Each  canal-rider 
should  know  the  principles  of  measurement  of  flowing 
water,  and  have  had  some  practical  experience  in  ob- 
taining the  velocity  by  means  of  floats,  measuring  the 
cross-section,  and  computing  the  approximate  volume. 
He  should  know  the  meaning  of  the  words  "  acre-foot," 
"  second-foot,"  and  other  terms.  Most  of  the  canal- 
riders  ordinarily  employed,  picked  up  from  among  the 
local  population,  do  not  have  this  knowledge,  and  so 
far  as  practicable,  they  should  be  given  a  little  ele- 
mentary instruction,  or  be  induced  to  take  up  a  cor- 
respondence course,  or  better,  attend  a  short  winter 
course  at  an  agricultural  college. 

In  the  use  of  weirs  for  measuring  flowing  waters  the 
canal-riders  should  know  something  of  the  conditions 
affecting  the  weir,  and  appreciate  the  large  changes  in 
amount  of  the  discharge  of  the  water  resulting  from  slight 
variations  in  the  surrounding  conditions.  Continuous 
effort  should  be  made  by  the  manager  to  secure  tactful, 
intelligent,  and  fairly  well-educated  men  for  these  po- 
sitions. More  important  than  educational  qualifications 
are  the  requirements  that  the  canal-rider  possess  good 
sense,  energy  and  experience  in  dealing  with  men.  Most 
of  the  canal-riders  on  a  project  are  obtained  from  residents 
in  the  locality,  men  who  have  a  small  farm,  or  are  living 
with  relatives.  There  are  generally  available  in  every 
irrigation  community  a  few  young  men  who  have  been 
brought  up  on  the  farm  and  who  have  had  a  good  agri- 
cultural education.  From  among  the  canal-riders,  especi- 
ally, the  young  men  of  relatively  good  education  and  who 

69 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

have  "  made  good/'  are  usually  selected  the  watermasters 
or  superintendents.  The  efficiency  or  "  team  play  "  of 
the  whole  organization  is  increased  by  such  judicious 
advancement  to  higher  positions  of  canal-riders  who  have 
shown  particular  ability. 

The  canal-riders  are  in  immediate  personal  touch  with 
the  irrigators,  and  it  is  important  that  they  preserve  a 
sympathetic  attitude  with  reference  to  the  difficulties  of 
farming.  This  should  not  lead  to  favoritism  or  to  any 
improper  concessions.  Firmness  in  adherence  to  regu- 
lations is  essential,  but  at  the  same  time  this  must  be  used 
with  tact.  The  more  skilled  canal-riders  should  be  em- 
ployed throughout  the  year;  it  is  not  advisable  to  employ 
all  of  them;  a  certain  proportion  must  necessarily  be 
kept  only  during  the  irrigating  season.  Their  time  in 
the  non-irrigating  season  can  be  effectively  used  as  fore- 
men of  cleaning  gangs  or  as  master  workmen;  also  in  col- 
lecting crop  statistics,  compiling  the  results  of  the  year's 
work,  or  in  clerical  lines,  according  to  their  ability  and  ex- 
perience. A  large  amount  of  data  must  necessarily  be  col- 
lected and  digested  by  well-informed  men,  especially  with 
reference  to  seeped  conditions,  the  rise  of  the  water  plane, 
and  other  matters  which  should  be  made  available  for  study. 

DUTIES  OF  CANAL-RIDERS. — The  canal-riders,  in  addi- 
tion to  measuring  water,  are  required  to  take  proper  care 
of  all  gates,  weirs,  measuring  boxes,  or  flumes,  and  when 
these  are  out  of  repair  promptly  notify  the  watermaster  or 
superintendent.  They  are  required  to  exercise  the  greatest 
possible  care  in  securing  correct  measurement  of  water,  and 
to  turn  in  the  records  promptly.  No  deliveries  are  to  be 
made,  nor  changes  in  delivery,  except  upon  written  re- 
quest from  the  water  user.  It  may  be  required  that  this  re- 
quest be  sent  in  twelve  or  twenty-four  hours  in  advance. 

70 


OPERATION  ORGANIZATION 

The  canal-rider  should  promptly  warn  all  property 
holders  against  placing  fences,  bridges  or  other  obstruc- 
tions across  the  canal  or  main  laterals,  and  see  to  it  that 
before  any  encroachments  are  permitted  upon  the  right 
of  way  suitable  revocable  licenses  are  given. 

It  is  expected  that  the  field  men  will  use  courtesyin  their 
transactions  with  the  farmers  and  be  ready  to  consider 
any  claim  or  grievance,  being  absolutely  fair  yet  firm  in 
the  decision  reached,  trying  to  have  a  full  understanding 
and  appreciation  of  the  honesty  of  purpose  and  equity  of 
all  acts  necessary  for  the  best  possible  service. 

The  canal  management,  as  before  stated,  is  in  immediate 
touch  with  the  irrigators  through  the  canal-riders,  gate- 
tenders  and  hydrographers.  Too  much  emphasis  can 
hardly  be  placed  on  the  requirement  that  each  of  these 
men  not  only  understands  his  business,  but  has  a  per- 
sonality which  inspires  respect  and  confidence  in  his  fair- 
ness and  strength  of  character.  These  men  should  at  all 
times  be  courteous  in  their  dealings,  even  under  great 
provocation,  and  not  disputatious,  nor  given  to  argument, 
but  willing  to  listen  patiently  to  every  grievance  and 
make  decision  which,  if  not  satisfactory,  may  be  appealed 
without  further  argument  to  the  superintendent  or 
manager. 

The  greatest  source  of  friction  arises  at  these  points  of 
contact;  and,  as  in  any  large  machine,  the  bearings  at 
these  points  must  be  carefully  watched  to  see  that  there 
is  no  undue  friction,  tending  to  cause  loss  of  energy,  over- 
heating, and  consequent  injury. 

Each  irrigator  expects  his  share  of  water  when  his  turn 
arrives,  and  to  have  this  head  maintained  throughout  the 
designated  period  of  time.  Unfortunately  some  of  his 
neighbors  are  inclined  to  take  more  than  their  share, 

71 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

especially  in  times  of  scarcity,  and  the  canal-riders  must 
be  eternally  vigilant.  There  are  also  some  water  users, 
who  are  suspicious  that  the  canal-rider  is  unfair  to  them 
or  that  some  influence  is  working  against  their  receiving 
their  proper  proportion.  This  is  particularly  the  case 
where  division  is  made  by  lateral  organizations,  and  by 
some  one  man  chosen  from  among  the  irrigators.  It  is 
very  rare  indeed  that  such  a  man  can  continue  to  divide 
the  water  for  a  season  without  quarrels  arising  and  appeals 
made  to  have  someone  sent  in  from  outside  to  make  the 
division. 

The  canal-riders  are  expected  to  be  ever  alert  n  the 
interests  of  the  water  users,  as  well  as  of  the  public  in 
general  and  see  to  it  that  no  man  suffers  for  lack  of  water 
through  unfair  action  on  the  part  of  a  neighbor,  especially 
if  the  latter  is  a  wealthy  or  influential  member  of  the  com- 
munity or  director  of  the  organization.  There  is  always 
a  feeling  that  a  large  landowner  or  influential  citizen 
is  getting  more  than  his  share,  and  that  the  canal-rider 
may  be  improperly  influenced  and  neglect  the  needs  of 
the  poorer  members  of  the  community. 

It  is  recognized  that  in  most  controversies  the  com- 
petent canal-rider  is  more  likely  to  be  right  than  is  the 
water  user,  because  of  his  thorough  familiarity  with  all 
details.  Yet,  any  man  is  liable  to  make  mistakes,  espe- 
cially if  he  is  overworked  during  the  critical  times  of  the 
year.  The  water  users,  while  properly  asserting  their 
right  to  have  such  mistakes  checked  up,  must  not  expect 
infallibility. 

HOUSES  AND  EQUIPMENT. — At  remote  points  where  it  is 
necessary  to  have  a  man  living  continuously  to  watch  or 
guard  a  reservoir,  or  the  head  of  a  main-line  canal,  it  is 
necessary  to  provide  him  with  a  suitable  house  and  small 

72 


OPERATION  ORGANIZATION 

area  of  agricultural  land,  where  he  can  have  a  garden. 
These  houses  are  built  in  accordance  with  the  climatic 
conditions  to  accommodate  a  family  and  at  a  cost  of 
approximately  $1,000. 

Canal-riders  are  largely  employed  from  among  resident 
farmers  and  usually  live  at  home  or  with  some  relative. 
In  some  localities,  however,  it  is  not  possible  to  find 
canal-riders,  and  here  suitable  houses  may  be  furnished 
in  order  to  enable  them  to  live  in  the  locality,  a  fair 
rental  being  charged,  or  deducted  from  the  monthly  pay. 

The  canal-rider  is  expected  to  furnish  a  motorcycle 
or  one  or  more  horses,  and  usually  to  supply  the  horses 
with  forage.  Sometimes  he  is  equipped  with  a  light 
two-wheeled  cart,  enabling  him  to  carry  a  long-handled 
shovel,  a  few  small  tools  with  which  to  make  repairs, 
and  several  sacks  to  be  filled  with  earth  and  used  in 
emergency  to  protect  canal  banks.  On  some  of  the 
projects  motorcycles  are  used,  as  it  has  been  found 
that  a  larger  area  can  be  covered  by  use  of  this  machine 
than  with  a  horse. 

Telephone  System. — The  item  of  equipment  most  im- 
portant in  the  operations  of  the  canal-rider  is  a  complete 
telephone  system.  Each  project  is  usually  provided 
with  telephone  facilities  during  construction  to  facilitate 
work,  and  the  lines  are  extended  to  the  home  of  each 
canal-rider,  and  especially  to  the  gate-tenders,  so  that 
immediate  action  can  be  taken.  It  is  essential  that 
the  telephone  system  be  employed  exclusively  in  the 
operation  of  the  canal,  and  not  used  for  other  purposes. 

MANAGER'S  DUTIES. — The  manager  of  a  large  irri- 
gation system  has  duties  which,  in  intricacy  of  detail 
are  comparable  to  those  of  the  manager  of  a  railroad 
system.  Under  him  are  the  superintendents  or  water- 

73 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

masters,  canal-riders,  and  others  as  above  described, 
having  control  of  several  hundred  or  thousand  miles 
of  waterways,  in  which  a  flow  must  be  maintained  from 
day  to  day  proportional  to  the  needs  of  hundreds  or 
even  thousands  of  farmers.  It  is  by  no  means  an  easy 
problem,  as  changes  in  the  quantity  of  water  at  the  head 
of  the  canals  are  not  immediately  responsive  at  the 
lower  points,  and  a  day  or  more  is  required  to  bring 
about  adjustment  in  water  deliveries.  Thus,  following 
any  radical  change  or  rotation  of  water,  two  or  three 
days  may  be  required  to  bring  about  the  desired  effect, 
and  this  condition  must  be  anticipated  and  provided 
for  in  arranging  the  distribution. 

Comparing  the  operation  of  a  canal  system  with 
that  of  a  single-line  railroad  system,  the  canal  manager 
has  no  sidings,  and  his  traffic  moves  onward  in  one 
direction  only;  he  must  work  out  from  experience  a 
somewhat  definite  scheme  of  water  deliveries  and  be 
prepared  to  modify  this  in  detail  from  day  to  day, 
according  to  weather  changes  and  the  requests  of  the 
irrigators,  complying  with  these  where  possible  to  do 
so  without  seriously  interfering  with  the  general  scheme. 
His  special  care  is  for  the  irrigator  at  the  far  end  of 
the  canal  or  lateral,  and  if  the  last  man  can  be  satisfied, 
there  is  usually  little  trouble  in  serving  the  others. 

In  case  of  sudden  rainstorms,  prompt  adjustment  of 
gates  and  wasteways  must  be  made  to  prevent  flooding 
the  canal  and  washing  out  portions  of  it<  Most  of  the 
farmers  desire  to  shut  down  their  gates,  and  if  this  is 
permitted,  the  sudden  closing  of  hundreds  of  these 
small  gates  may  back  up  the  water  and  wreck  the  canal 
unless  ample  wasteways  have  been  provided  and  are 
ready  for  use.  In  many  instances  it  is  necessary  to 

74 


OPERATION  ORGANIZATION 

keep  the  farmer's  gates  locked,  as  well  as  all  the  larger 
gates,  in  order  to  prevent  this  interference  with  the 
proper  flow  of  the  water.  The  manager  must  avoid  both 
of  the  two  extremes : 

First,  that  of  endeavoring  to  conciliate,  or  gain  per- 
sonal popularity  by  giving  to  each  water  user  all  of  the 
water  which  he  demands,  and  thus  saving  himself  from 
trouble;  or, 

Second,  that  of  stiffly  adhering  to  rules  in  such  way 
as  to  appear  unnecessarily  arbitrary. 

It  is,  of  course,  essential  to  be  absolutely  fair,  and 
to  adhere  to  the  established  regulations,  and  it  is  pos- 
sible for  a  man  of  tact  to  do  so  without  arousing  an- 
tagonism. 

The  success  of  the  project  manager  depends  most 
largely  upon  his  ability  to  understand  and  appreciate  the 
needs  of  irrigation,  and  to  handle  those  matters  which 
lead  to  the  success  of  the  farmer,  gaining  his  respect 
and  confidence,  and  gradually  building  up,  directly 
and  indirectly,  the  returns  of  crops  to  the  individual 
and  to  the  community.  The  qualifications  of  tact,  of 
sympathetic  appreciation  of  the  other  man's  viewpoint, 
and  of  absolute  fairness  and  integrity,  are  of  the  highest 
importance;  and,  while  it  is  necessary  at  the  same  time 
to  have  business  ability,  skill,  some  knowledge  of  engin- 
eering and  other  qualifications,  no  man  can  succeed  as 
a  manager  who  does  not  have  as  the  leading  qualification, 
the  ability  successfully  to  meet  and  deal  with  the  average 
farmer  on  the  project. 

In  arranging  his  affairs  and  daily  routine,  the  project 
manager,  as  before  stated,  must  provide  for  being  on 
the  ground,  visiting  different  parts  of  the  project,  meet- 
ing the  farmers  in  their  fields,  for  one-half  of  his  time. 

75 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

During  the  remaining  days  he  should  be  readily  acces- 
sible in  his  office,  and  while  guarding  himself  against 
undue  loss  of  time  and  effort,  yet  he  should  create  the 
impression  that  he  is  always  ready  to  see  the  farmer 
who  has  come  in  from  a  distance.  Experience  has  shown 
that  it  is  possible  to  do  this  and  rapidly  to  get  at  the 
matter  in  the  mind  of  the  farmer — using  tact  in  so 
doing,  and  excusing  himself  for  other  business  the  moment 
that  the  essential  has  been  reached.  The  tendency  is, 
of  course,  for  the  average  countryman  to  spend  hours 
talking  over  some  minor  matter,  and  consume  the  entire 
time  of  the  manager,  but  this  condition,  when  recog- 
nized, must  be  carefully  guarded  against. 

On  all  projects  there  are  likely  to  prevail  vague  rumors 
of  bad  work  and  general  complaints  which  tend  to 
arouse  animosity  against  the  management.  Efforts  are 
frequently  made  to  find  the  origin  of  these  rumors, 
and  to  stop  the  wild  talk,  but  it  is  usually  difficult  to 
trace  back  these  statements  to  their  source.  In  some 
cases  committees  of  inquiry  have  been  appointed  or 
designated,  but  after  fruitless  effort  they  have  usually 
become  disgusted  and  stopped  the  inquiry. 

The  difficulty  of  obtaining  and  keeping  good  irri- 
gation managers  arises  largely  from  the  fact  that  there  is 
not  yet  in  the  minds  of  the  public  an  appreciation  of  the 
difficulties  of  the  situation  and  of  the  requirement  of 
men,  not  only  with  experience,  but  possessing  a  rare 
degree  of  tact  and  ability  in  dealing  with  the  ordinary 
man.  There  is  still  a  tendency  to  believe  that  any 
irrigator  can  operate  an  irrigation  system.  This  con- 
dition is  pointed  out  by  the  following  statements  from 
one  of  the  men  who  has  long  been  employed  in  irrigation 
works : 

76 


OPERATION  ORGANIZATION 

.  .  .  The  oldest  and  most-up-to-date  ditch  companies 
make  the  same  mistake — that  of  employing  superintendents, 
or  ditch-riders,  as  they  are  more  commonly  called,  that  are 
thoroughly  incompetent  to  have  charge  of  an  irrigation  canal, 
with  the  result  that  through  ignorance  they  make  mistakes 
which  cost  the  farmers  hundreds  of  dollars  in  the  loss  of 
crops,  and  the  company  an  unnecessary  expense. 

The  farmers  and  water  users  will  continue  to  pay  unneces- 
sary expenses  as  long  as  they  hold  to  the  idea  that  anyone 
can  be  a  canal  superintendent.  In  this  company  they  had 
practiced  hiring  cheap  inexperienced  men  until  their  canal 
and  appurtenances  were  almost  a  total  wreck.  In  1908  a 
new  board  of  directors  were  elected  who  realized  the  situation 
and  accordingly  took  steps  to  improve  it;  they  raised  the 
superintendent's  salary  50  per  cent.,  and  employed  a  com- 
petent man  who  is  still  with  us.  The  canal  is  now  in  better 
condition  than  the  average.  .  .  . 

RELATIONS  WITH  WATER  USERS. — In  all  business  re- 
lations, it  is  essential  for  success  to  preserve  mutual 
respect  and  confidence  and  bring  about  cordial  rela- 
tions; at  the  same  time  not  violating  for  the  sake  of 
popularity,  essential  requirements  of  law  or  of  good 
practice.  Personal  differences  and  misunderstandings 
are  to  any  organization  what  friction  is  to  a  machine 
— consuming  power,  retarding  motion,  damaging  and 
ultimately  destroying  the  most  costly  device.  It  must 
be  eliminated  by  careful  study  of  the  origin  of  the  fric- 
tion, and  by  applying  proper  lubricants  to  the  point  of 
contact.  This  does  not  imply  weakness  nor  subservience 
to  unreasonable  demands.  One  of  the  best  machine 
lubricants  is  graphite,  in  some  respects  a  hard  and  un- 
yielding substance,  but  at  the  same  time  one  which  pre- 
vents the  bearing  surfaces  from  cutting  each  other. 

An  unvarying  courtesy,  consideration  for  the  views  of 

77 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

others,  reasonable  optimism,  and  cheerful  response  reduce 
and  overcome  the  heat  which  develops  in  business  con- 
tact. At  first,  in  any  new  and  large  machine  there  are 
necessary  points  of  roughness,  and  it  requires  a  certain 
length  of  time  to  get  the  machinery  shaken  down  and  all 
bearing  surfaces  smoothed.  The  fact  that  this  is  not 
accomplished  immediately  is  not  a  valid  criticism  but 
especial  attention  should  be  applied  to  the  places  of 
friction  where  heating  does  occur  and  these  kept  bathed 
n  the  oil  of  human  kindness  and  consideration. 


CHAPTER  VI 
METHODS  OF  OPERATION 

THERE  is  a  well-recognized  tendency  towards  stand- 
ardization of  the  practices  in  the  operation  of  the  irri- 
gation system,  particularly  those  of  considerable  size. 
The  practices  formerly  divergent,  are  being  made  to  con- 
form somewhat  more  closely  to  methods  applicable  to 
all  canals  and  one  which  the  experience  of  the  engineer 
or  manager  in  charge  is  rinding  to  be  desirable.  One 
of  the  inciting  causes,  in  addition  to  that  of  efficiency, 
is  to  enable  comparison  to  be  made  from  time  to  time 
of  the  results  being  obtained  in  various  localities.  The 
desirability  of  uniformity  is  becoming  more  and  more 
apparent,  particularly  in  methods  of  delivery. 

DELIVERY  OF  WATER 

There  have  been  practiced  many  methods  of  delivery 
of  water  from  the  main  canal  to  the  irrigators  and  con- 
sumers. These  are  gradually  being  grouped  under 
three  general  methods,  as  follows:  (a)  continuous  flow, 
(6)  delivery  on  demand,  (c)  rotation  on  schedule. 

CONTINUOUS  FLOW. — Most  of  the  older  and  smaller 
irrigation  systems  were  built  on  the  theory  of  furnishing 
a  continuous  flow  of  water  throughout  the  irrigating 
season,  of  say,  one  cubic  foot  per  second  to  each  farm  of 
eighty  acres.  The  small  pioneer  canals  were  built  by 

79 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

individuals  or  associations  of  farmers  who  joined  forces 
to  build  the  principal  canal  and  then  gradually  enlarged 
or  extended  the  work,  bringing  water  to  each  farm  and 
dividing  it  pro  rata.  Water  turned  in  at  the  head 
was  allowed  to  flow  down  to  the  field  and  if  not  needed 
it  was  permitted  to  continue  on  through  natural  depres- 
sions back  to  the  river.  Whenever  an  irrigator  desired 
to  use  the  water  he  turned  it  to  his  land.  As  the  de- 
mands increased  it  became  necessary  to  apportion  the 
flow,  and  finally  some  one  man  was  designated  to  try 
to  divide  the  supply  equitably  when  it  became  scanty. 
There  arose  almost  innumerable  controversies  over 
this  division,  especially  when  the  larger  farms  were  sub- 
divided, and  water  more  carefully  used  by  a  few  of  the 
farmers. 

DELIVERY  ON  DEMAND.- — The  owner  of  a  160-acre 
tract  having  a  steady  flow  of  2  cubic  feet  per  second 
for  this  area  would  naturally  use  this  water  first  on  one 
tract  of  20  or  40  acres,  then  on  another,  turning  the 
stream  from  one  field  to  the  next.  When  the  time  came 
to  subdivide  the  land  each  owner  of  a  40-acre  tract  might 
elect  to  take  his  proportion  of  the  continuous  flow,  or 
more  likely  would  continue  to  practice  a  division  of  the 
entire  flow,  making  a  request  upon  his  neighbors  to 
permit  him  to  have  the  full  head  of  water  during  a  short 
period  of  time,  arranging  for  an  exchange  of  time  of 
flow.  Thus,  grew  up  naturally  a  crude  system  of  deliv- 
ery on  call,  often  quite  complex  in  its  ramifications  as 
different  neighbors,  or  groups  of  neighbors,  adjusted  the 
needs  of  their  crops  to  the  continuous  flow. 

One  man,  for  example,  would  arrange  to  take  all  of 
the  water  belonging  to  three  or  four  of  his  neighbors 
for  certain  periods,  and  call  for  the  united  supply;  then, 

80 


METHODS  OF  OPERATION 

later,  his  water  would  be  combined  in  the  general  stock 
and  made  subject  to  call  of  the  other  neighbors  as  needed 
by  them.  This  system  worked  quite  satisfactorily  for  a 
time,  when  there  were  not  many  users,  and  is  still  followed 
where  there  is  ample  water  supply,  or  where  the  canals 
and  laterals  are  of  sufficient  size  to  permit  a  number  of 
men  to  call  for  water  at  the  same  time  without  inter- 
ference with  each  other. 

ROTATION. — In  the  event  that  the  canal  capacity  is 
not  adequate  to  permit  everyone  to  obtain  water  at 
the  same  time,  it  follows  that  there  must  be  some  system- 
atic scheme  by  which  each  may  receive  his  share  of  the 
supply  at  periods  to  be  worked  out  in  advance,  and 
according  to  some  carefully  considered  schedule  prepared 
with  reference  to  the  character  of  soil  and  crops.  Tak- 
ing, for  instance,  the  case  of  an  original  owner  who  had 
4  second-feet  for  320  acres,  this  might  be  a  convenient 
quantity  to  handle  at  one  time  as  a  single  "  irrigating 
head,"  and  one  which  would  be  carried  through  the 
lateral  canals.  He  may  have  been  accustomed  to  using 
this  in  turn  on  each  40-acre  tract.  If  later  he  sub- 
divides and  sells  to  8  owners  of  40  acres  each,  it  is 
obvious  that  these  8  owners  must  agree  among  them- 
selves as  to  when  each  may  enjoy  in  turn  the  use  of  the 
full  irrigating  head.  Thus,  systematic  rotation  must 
be  arranged  according  to  some  schedule,  so  that  each 
irrigator  may  have  either  a  full  head  of  four  second- 
feet  for  a  certain  number  of  hours,  or  half  a  head. 

Where  there  are  several  hundred,  or  several  thousand 
irrigators  of  small  tracts,  the  preparation  of  a  schedule 
to  meet  the  convenience  of  these  irrigators,  and  the  needs 
of  their  crops,  is  a  difficult  and  intricate  matter,  and  one 
which  to  be  successful  must  be  the  result  of  years  of  experi- 

81 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

ence.  A  new,  or  unskilled  manager,  with  the  best  of 
intentions,  may  interfere  with  the  delicate  adjustments 
which  have  taken  place  and  bring  about  great  confusion 
or  loss  through  unwise  attempts  to  improve  the  elaborate 
system  which  may  have  grown  up. 

Under  some  of  the  larger  irrigation  canals,  even  where 
a  definite  rotation  system  has  not  been  established,  it  is 
customary  for  the  water  users  to  arrange  among  them- 
selves to  exchange  water  so  as  to  increase  the  irrigating 
head  locally  available.  This  is  notably  the  case  where  the 
farmers  have  discovered  that  the  continuous  delivery  of 
a  small  amount  of  water  is  neither  economical  of  their 
time  nor  of  the  water  supply;  they  devise  for  themselves 
certain  economies  of  time  and  water,  and  provide  a  system 
by  which  one  man  arranges  with  his  neighbor  to  unite  the 
water  which  would  otherwise  have  been  divided  among 
two  or  more  farms,  using  the  larger  volume  of  water,  or 
head,  for  a  few  hours  on  one  farm,  then  shutting  it  off 
completely  and  delivering  to  another. 

Such  an  arrangement  as  above  described  may  precede 
the  adoption  of  a  more  complete  system  of  rotation.  It 
teaches  the  value  of  systematic  rotation,  and  creates  a 
desire  for  it,  even  though  some  of  the  farmers  are  not 
able,  by  their  own  efforts,  to  find  neighbors  who  can,  or 
will,  exchange  with  them  at  the  critical  time.  It  is  not 
always  possible  to  rotate  on  the  theoretically  ideal  basis, 
because  the  crops  vary  and  the  soils  are  not  always  of 
uniform  texture ;  some  dry  out  with  rapidity,  and  require 
applications  of  water  at  short  intervals.  This  is  usually 
a  temporary  condition,  and  after  humus  has  been  supplied 
and  the  ground  cultivated  for  some  years,  the  irrigating 
head  and  the  length  of  the  rotation  period  can  be  grad 
ually  increased. 


METHODS  OF  OPERATION 

Various  Forms  of  Rotation. — It  is  to  be  seen  from  the 
above  statement  that  the  phrase  "  rotation  "  covers  a 
wide  variety  of  practices  in  distributing  water.  It  implies 
that,  for  any  given  tract  of  land,  water  is  applied  at 
intervals,  and  not  in  a  continuous  stream.  In  other 
words,  it  is  hi  accordance  with  natural  conditions  where 
rams  descend  at  intervals,  wetting  the  soil,  which  on  the 
cessation  of  the  rains,  becomes  dry  again,  permitting 
aeration  and  cultivation. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  no  one  piece  of  land  which  is  not 
used  for  growing  aquatic  plants  is  given  a  continuous 
flow.  Each  small  plot  of  land  is  alternately  wet  and  then 
allowed  to  dry.  If  a  landowner  has  a  continuous  flow  at 
the  edge  of  his  160-acre  tract,  he  uses  the  water  for  a  day 
or  more  upon  his  field  of  ten  acres;  then  applies  it  to  his 
orchard,  and  so  on,  rotating  the  delivery  to  the  various 
fields.  While  many  irrigators  claim  to  have  a  continuous 
flow  and  successfully  to  irrigate  with  it,  as  a  matter  of  fact 
they  actually  practice  some  form  of  rotation.  Frequently 
they  resent  the  introduction  of  a  so-called  "  rotation 
plan,"  although  they  themselves  are  actually  carrying  it 
out  under  another  name.  The  almost  infinite  variety  of 
ways  in  which  rotation  may  be  carried  on  has  arisen  from 
the  fact,  as  before  noted,  that  most  of  these  have  grown 
up  through  informal  arrangement  among  neighbors  as 
above  described  by  which  a  more  or  less  elementary 
schedule  is  agreed  upon — one  man  taking  water  on  a  cer- 
tain day,  and  turning  his  share  to  his  neighbor  the  next 
day,  and  so  on. 

A  time  may  arise  when  the  crop  conditions  are  such 
that  none  of  the  farmers  need  to  utilize  the  water  during 
certain  days,  and  they  appreciate  that  the  steady  flow  is 
tending  to  raise  the  ground  water  and  swamp  the  low- 

83 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

lands.  They  therefore  agree  that  the  lateral  shall  be  shut 
down  for  a  period  of  several  days  and  dried  out  or  cleaned. 
The  water  which  would  otherwise  have  gone  to  this 
lateral  can  then  be  used  on  other  lands,  and  the  result  is 
the  practice  of  rotation  between  laterals  as  well  as  between 
fields. 

With  a  more  highly  developed  system  of  management, 
it  is  possible  to  make  a  schedule  such  that  not  only  the 
small  laterals,  but  larger  branches  of  the  canal  may  be 
shut  down  for  a  period  of  from  four  days  to  a  week  at  a 
time,  allowing  larger  areas  of  ground  to  dry  out,  be  cul- 
tivated and  aerated  and  brought  into  the  best  possible 
condition.  Rotation  between  any  considerable  areas  of 
land  is,  however,  a  matter  requiring  long  experience  and 
the  careful  working  out  of  a  schedule  such  that  the  farmers 
may  make  provision  to  plant  and  cultivate  their  crops 
with  full  reference  to  the  rotation  system.  In  the  case 
of  young  alfalfa,  or  of  gardens,  it  is  not  always  possible 
to  arrange  complete  rotation,  but  provision  must  be  made 
for  these,  also  for  stock  water  in  new  countries  where  the 
farmers  have  not  yet  provided  an  adequate  supply. 

In  practice,  it  is  usually  desirable  to  give  to  the  man 
at  the  far  end  of  the  lateral  a  full  head  for  a  certain  num- 
ber of  hours,  then  his  gate  is  shut  down  and  the  next  man 
above  receives  the  full  flow  for  his  proportional  number 
of  hours  and  so  on  day  and  night.  (See  also  p.  93.) 
Little  question  can  arise  as  to  fairness  of  division  under 
this  method,  because  each  man  has  the  full  flow  main- 
tained at  a  steady  rate  for  a  definite  time. 

It  is  not  always  possible,  however,  to  follow  such  a 
simple  device,  as  with  various  crops  on  different-sized 
holdings  it  may  be  necessary  to  supply  two  or  more 
small  farms,  say  of  ten  acres  each,  at  the  same  time — 

84: 


METHODS  OF  OPERATION 

so  that  the  single  measurement  at  the  hea,d  of  the 
lateral  will  not  suffice.  Thus,  gradually,  the  division 
becomes  more  and  more  complicated,  especially  where 
water  is  rotated  between  separate  laterals. 

Rotation  Period. — As  far  as  practicable,  it  is  desir- 
able to  have  the  individual  farmer  decide  for  himself 
the  length  of  the  rotation  period,  and  the  head  of  water 
with  which  he  can  attain  the  best  results.  This  can 
usually  be  done  within  certain  limits,  where  the  farmer 
works  with  a  cooperative  spirit  and  is  actuated  by  a 
desire  to  join  with  his  neighbors  in  producing  the  best 
results  for  the  community.  It  is  necessary  to  have 
his  personal  interest  in  this  matter  in  order  to  promote 
a  high  duty  of  water,  make  the  canals  easier  to  operate, 
reduce  the  seepage,  and  give  better  returns.  In  any 
community,  unfortunately  there  are  men  who  are  urrwilling 
to  join  with  the  rest  in  any  desired  reform.  For  example, 
in  one  instance  a  man  has  demanded  an  irrigation  head 
of  six  second-feet  of  six-day  rotation  on  a  twenty-acre 
tract  of  sod,  an  amount  sufficient  to  swamp  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  yet  this  man  is  a  prominent  farmer  and 
business  man,  skilled  in  other  occupations,  but  wholly 
unreasonable  in  his  demands  for  water. 

On  the  North  Platte  project  in  Nebraska  the  period 
is  four  days  flow  and  four  days  off,  furnishing  an  irri- 
gation head  of  two  second-feet  to  each  eighty-acre 
tract.  The  farmers  who  have  160  acres  or  more  have 
a  six-day  flow  and  three  days  off,  if  desired.  When 
this  system  was  first  announced  and  before  water  was 
used,  there  were  many  theoretical  objections,  but  after 
a  month's  use  there  was  practically  no  complaint. 

It  is  customary  for  the  water  user  himself  to  initiate 
the  delivery  by  making  a  request  for  a  certain  amount 

85 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

of  water  at  a  certain  time.  This  is  done  by  filling  in 
a  slip  or  card  which  reads  about  as  follows : 

August    1,  1915. 
Irrigation  Manager: 

I  hereby  request  delivery  of  water  at  the  rate  of  2  second- 
feet  for  one  day,  beginning  on  August  3,  at  turnout  No.  421 
on  Jackson  lateral,  to  irrigate  the  following  crops: 
10  acres  of  alfalfa 
2  acres  of  orchard 
1  acre  of  garden 

J ohn  Smith, 

Water  User. 

In  filling  in  this  request,  it  is  usually  required  that  at 
least  two  days'  advance  notice  be  given.  If  a  consid- 
erable amount  of  water  is  needed  a  similar  form  is  used 
which  may  read  as  follows: 

August  3,  1915. 
Irrigation  Manager: 

Please  make  the  following  changes  in  the  water  for  my  land: 
Deliver  4  second-feet  to  turnout  No.  271  on  Willow  lateral, 
beginning  at  8  A.M.,  and  continuing  until  3  P.M. 

Or,  the  request  may  take  the  form  of: 

Change  to  6  second-feet  from  turnout  No.  124  on  Brown 
lateral,  to  turnout  No.  41,  on  Green  lateral.  .  .  . 

spaces  being  provided  for  filling  in  the  request  to  change 
the  delivery  or  to  close  the  turnouts,  thus  facilitating 
easy  yet  definite  action  on  the  part  of  the  individual 
water  user. 

These  requests  are  compiled  each  day  on  suitable 
records  arranged  for  the  convenience  of  the  canal-rider, 
and  approved  by  the  watermaster,  or  superintendent 

86 


METHODS  OF  OPERATION 

of  that  division.  The  slip  or  card  above  described  may 
either  be  mailed  to  the  office  of  the  canal  superintendent 
or  manager,  or  left  in  a  small  box  provided  for  the  pur- 
pose at  the  headgate  of  the  farmer's  lateral.  These 
notices  are  collected  by  the  canal-riders  on  their  rounds. 
In  case  telephone  facilities  are  provided,  the  request 
may  be  transmitted  by  telephone,  but  in  such  cases  it 
is  usually  required  that  the  written  card  or  request  be 
sent  in  due  course  of  time  to  the  manager's  office,  to 
verify  the  fact  that  water  has  been  requested.  The 
following  application  form  has  been  adopted  for  use  in 
cases  where  there  is  unusual  difficulty  in  delivery  of 
water,  or  where  exceptional  care  should  be  taken  to 
insure  careful  planning  of  the  rotation: 

APPLICATION  FOR  DELIVERY  OF  WATER  OUT  OF 
ROTATION   SCHEDULE 

Name  of  applicant Unit 

Area  under  cultivation 

Date  for  which  water  is  requested 

The  head  of  water  requested 

Length  of  run  requested 

Crop  for  which  water  is  wanted Acres 

Was  water  used  during  last  regular  rotation? 

If  so,  how  many  acres  irrigated? 

How  long  was  water  used? 

If  not  irrigated  last  rotation,  why? 

Number  of  times  this  crop  has  been  irrigated 

Remarks:  Give  reason  for  wanting  water  at  this  time 


(Signed) 

Water  User. 
87 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

(To  be  filled  out  by  Superintendent) 
Number   of   times   water   has   been   delivered   to    applicant, 

season  of  1912 

Total  acre-feet  of  water  used  to  date 

Have  you  inspected  the  condition  of  this  crop? 

Does  it  require  delivery  of  water  out  of  rotation? 

Do  you  recommend  delivery  of  water  as  per  this  application? .  . 

Remarks: 

(Signed) 

Superintendent  of  Irrigation. 

Action  taken 

Project  Manager. 

The  table  on  page  89  shows  the  results  of  operation 
under  schedule  on  the  Huntley  project,  Montana,  and 
is  given  to  show  how  the  water  users  naturally  fall  into 
certain  practices  at  the  outset.  It  indicates  that  about 
one-fourth  of  the  water  users  were  then  receiving  water 
each  day,  and  about  one-fourth  every  other  day,  the 
remainder  receiving  it  at  longer  intervals.  As  experi- 
ence has  been  obtained,  the  length  of  interval  has  greatly 
increased,  with  corresponding  reduction  in  expenditure 
of  time  and  labor  by  the  farmers  and  canal-riders. 

The  method  of  operating  the  laterals  of  an  irrigation 
system  is  largely  determined  by  the  amount  of  water 
turned  to  each  farmer  or  by  the  size  of  the  heads  used 
by  the  individual  irrigators.  If,  for  example,  relatively 
small  heads  are  used,  then  a  larger  number  of  irrigators 
can  be  kept  busy  with  the  water  from  a  given  lateral, 
and  the  farmer's  gates  are  adjusted  at  less  frequent 
intervals,  but  more  time  is  required  in  irrigation.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  the  farmers  have  become  accustomed 
to  using  large  heads,  then  the  length  of  time  required 
by  any  one  irrigator  for  getting  the  water  over  his 

88 


METHODS  OF  OPERATION 


HUNTLEY  PROJECT 
LENGTH  OF  IRRIGATION  PERIODS — 1912 


Length  of  Period, 
Days. 

Number  of 
Irrigations. 

Per  cent,  of  Total 
Number  of 
Irrigations. 

1 

604 

23 

2 

610 

24 

3 

502 

20 

4 

415 

16 

5 

177 

7 

6 

113 

4 

7 

98 

4 

8 

28 

1 

9 

19 

10 

8 

Over  10 

13 

2587 

field  is  relatively  short.  The  gates  must  be  adjusted 
at  frequent  intervals  and  the  schedule  of  deliveries 
arranged  accordingly.  The  size  of  head  found  to  be 
desirable  under  different  conditions  is  further  discussed 
on  page  245. 

PREPARATION  OF  FIELDS 

For  economy  of  time  and  water,  both  in  the  operation 
of  the  system  and  in  the  processes  of  irrigation,  the 
farmer's  fields  must  be  prepared  to  receive  the  water 
quickly.  In  other  words,  the  surface  of  the  cultivated 
lands  must  be  made  as  smooth  as  possible,  all  depres- 
sions being  filled  and  elevations  moved,  so  that  the 
water  can  be  successfully  conducted  over  the  entire 
surface.  If  this  is  not  done,  low  spots  receive  too  much 

89 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

water,  and  the  crops  on  them  are  drowned  in  the  attempt 
to  irrigate  the  higher  points,  unless  the  irrigator  spends 
an  extraordinary  amount  of  time  and  labor  in  applying 
the  water. 

In  the  case  of  some  fields  in  the  arid  region,  nature 
has  already  leveled  the  surface,  but  in  most  localities 
it  is  necessary  to  incur  large  expense,  not  only  in  remov- 
ing the  native  vegetation,  but  in  smoothing  down  the 
ridges  or  hummocks,  which  have  resulted  from  the 
growth  of  this  vegetation,  or  from  the  wind  action  in 
piling  up  the  sand  around  the  scanty  growth.  Where 
the  vegetation  is  particularly  heavy,  as,  for  example,  on 
the  alluvial  or  bottom  lands,  the  cost  of  removing  this 
vegetation  is  not  only  large,  ten  or  fifteen  dollars  or 
more  per  acre,  but  the  expense  of  leveling  is  often  as 
much,  or  even  more,  because  the  ground  has  been  fur- 
rowed or  cut  into  gullies  by  the  overflowing  flood 
waters. 

The  cost  of  clearing  and  leveling  some  of  the  rich 
bottom-land  soils  may  be  as  high  as  fifty  dollars  an  acre, 
but  the  expense  is  justified.  The  quicker  the  fields  are 
leveled  the  better  will  be  the  results  in  economy  of  time 
spent  in  irrigation  and  in  water.  It  is  not  to  be  ex- 
pected that  the  entire  area  of  the  farm  will  be  brought 
into  good  condition  the  first  year,  but,  as  before  stated, 
the  irrigation  manager  should  do  everything  possible  to 
encourage  the  thorough  leveling  and  preparation  of  at 
least  a  portion  of  the  fields  each  year,  this  area  being  grad- 
ually extended  as  opportunity  offers  until  the  entire 
acreage  has  been  brought  up  to  the  best  condition  for 
applying  water.  (See  also  p,  35.) 


90 


CONCRETE    AND    STEEL    GATES    IN   EARTH    CANAL,    PERMITTING 
REGULATION  OF  WATER. 


FARMER'S  WOODEN  HEADGATE. 
Small  flume  and  measuring  weir  at  left. 


METHODS  OF  OPERATION 

FARM   BOXES 

Under  the  best  conditions  of  irrigation  development 
each  separate  farm  or  large  field  is  provided  with  a  box, 
or  gate,  for  delivering  water  (see  illustration),  arranged 
in  such  a  way  that  the  flow  can  be  controlled  and 
measured.  Under  some  of  the  older  irrigation  systems, 
especially  where  the  farm  areas  were  large,  it  was  cus- 
tomary to  deliver  water  in  practically  continuous  flow, 
with  few  and  simple  gates,  the  water  not  being  measured 
but  simply  divided  by  some  rude  device.  The  gates 
were  set  at  the  beginning  of  the  irrigation  season  and 
were  rarely  changed  until  the  time  of  summer  drought. 
This  resulted  in  great  waste  of  water  and  in  the  encourage- 
ment of  practices  which  cannot  be  tolerated  under  more 
highly  developed  systems  where  it  is  necessary  to  keep 
accurate  record  of  the  amount  of  water  delivered  to 
each  consumer. 

Many  of  the  farm  gates  or  turnouts  placed  during 
the  earlier  periods  of  construction  were  designed  upon 
the  assumption  of  delivering  a  relatively  small  continu- 
ous flow.  Later,  experience  has  shown  that  greater 
economy  of  water  and  of  irrigators'  time  can  be  obtained 
by  using  larger  heads  of  water  for  shorter  periods. 
(See  p.  248.)  Thus  it  results  that  the  irrigation  manager 
in  many  instances  must  increase  the  size  of  the  gates, 
rebuilding  them  with  sufficient  capacity  to  deliver  to 
each  farm  the  largest  practicable  amount  of  water  con- 
sistent with  the  character  of  soil  and  crop.  For  example, 
the  delivery  boxes  which  were  designed  for  a  delivery 
of  one  cubic  foot  per  second  to  eighty  acres,  flowing 
almost  continuously,  may  be  replaced  to  advantage  by 
structures  which  can  deliver  as  high  as  ten  cubic  feet  per 
second,  to  be  used  during  a  period  of  a  few  hours.  Fre- 

91 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

quent  consideration  should  be  given  to  this  matter, 
with  a  view  to  insuring  a  still  greater  economy  by  in- 
creasing the  size  of  the  gates  and  farm  laterals  whenever 
opportunity  offers. 

Locking  Boxes. — It  has  been  found  essential  to  make 
provisions  for  locking  the  farm  gates  in  the  same  way 
that  the  gates  to  the  larger  laterals  are  kept  locked. 
By  so  doing  the  canal-rider  is  sure  that  the  ga,tes  are  not 
tampered  with,  nor  opened  or  closed  to  the  detriment, 
not  only  of  the  irrigators  themselves,  but  the  liability 
of  injury  to  the  canal  system.  There  are  so  many 
opportunities  for  mishaps  to  occur  that,  if  the  manager 
is  to  be  held  legally  or  morally  responsible  for  the  opera- 
tion of  the  system,  he  cannot  afford  to  take  chances 
of  some  ignorant  or  mischievous  person  changing  the 
water  distribution  in  the  absence  of  the  canal-rider. 

In  old  communities  where  the  gates  have  not  been 
locked,  and  where  there  has  been  a  general  indifference 
about  water  economy,  or  injury  to  property  through 
flooding,  there  is  usually  resentment  on  the  introduction 
of  the  more  effective  system;  some  of  the  farmers  regard 
it  as  a  personal  affront  when  their  gates  are  fastened. 
It  should  be  generally  understood  that  this  is  done  for 
the  security  of  all  concerned,  and  is  essential  to  the 
proper  control  of  the  system. 

In  promulgating  rules  governing  the  operation  and 
maintenance  of  any  canal  system,  it  should  be  clearly 
shown  that  the  manager  has  the  duty  of  controlling  at 
all  times  the  headgates  and  other  structures;  and  that  he 
and  his  assistants  have  the  exclusive  right  to  the  pos- 
session of  the  keys  to  all  locks;  and  that  no  unauthorized 
person  shall  be  permitted  to  tamper  with  the  gates  or 
change  the  locks. 


METHODS  OF  OPERATION 

OPERATING  LATERALS 

There  are  two  well-defined  systems  of  operating  the 
laterals  which  take  water  from  a  main  canal  or  its  branches 
to  the  lands  of  a  group  of  farmers.  The  first  may  be 
called  the  centralized  system,  and  the  second  the  com- 
munity system. 

Centralized  Method. — Under  the  first  system,  or  cen- 
tralized method,  the  manager,  or  superintendent,  of  the 
canal  is  held  responsible  for  delivery  to  the  field  of 
each  individual  farmer  of  a  certain  quantity  of  water; 
he  has  a  definite  schedule  of  water  deliveries  arranged 
in  advance,  and  the  necessary  operating  force  to  see  to 
it  that  the  water  is  distributed  not  only  to  the  different 
laterals,  but  al^o  from  the  lateral  to  each  farmer. 

Community  System. — Under  the  second,  or  community 
system,  the  manager  is  concerned  simply  with  the  schedule 
for  delivery  of  the  water  from  the  branch  canal  to  each 
lateral,  but  not  from  the  lateral.  All  of  the  individuals, 
usually  a  half-dozen  or  more,  who  receive  water  from 
each  lateral,  organize  a  community  for  the  purpose 
of  operating  and  maintaining  the  lateral  and  of  divid- 
ing the  water  among  themselves,  the  prime  object  being 
to  reduce  the  cash  outlay  hi  cost  of  operation,  by  doing 
for  themselves  the  work  which  would  require  the  ser- 
vices of  a  professional  canal-rider. 

The  lateral  community,  or  group  of  water  users, 
acting  in  a  very  informal  manner,  elects  one  of  its 
members  as  secretary.  He  may,  or  may  not,  act  as 
the  watermaster.  His  business  it  is  to  keep  record  of 
the  acts  of  the  community  and  of  the  amount  of  water 
and  time  when  it  should  be  turned  to  the  individual 
fields.  There  is  also  chosen  from  among  the  farmers 

93 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

a  watermaster,  if  the  secretary  does  not  act  as  such, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  attend  to  the  distribution  of  water 
and  to  the  cleaning  of  the  lateral  and  the  necessary 
repairs. 

The  community  system,  in  theory,  is  nearly  ideal, 
as  it  is  the  exemplification  of  home  rule,  or  of  local 
control,  in  which  neighbors  share  the  responsibility  and 
divide  the  water  among  themselves,  reducing  the  cost 
of  cash  outlay  for  clerical  and  other  employees.  It  is 
in  line  with  the  immediate  control  of  the  canal  by  the 
people  who  are  served  by  its  waters;  a  condition  which 
should  be  realized  in  all  public  utilities  of  this  kind. 
Like  most  ideal  systems,  for  success  it  requires  ideal 
people.  If  each  community  has  high  conceptions  of 
civic  duties,  and  puts  into  practice  the  Golden  Rule, 
success  is  assured;  but  if,  as  occasionally  happens  to 
be  the  case,  there  are  one  or  two  men  who  shirk  their 
community  duties,  or  who  regard  their  own  affairs  as 
of  superior  importance  to  those  of  their  neighbors,  it 
invariably  results  that  the  weaker  suffer.  There  is 
practically  no  appeal  from  the  neglect  of  neighborly 
duties.  If  on  a  lateral  supplying,  say,  twenty  farms,  a 
majority  of  the  farmers,  particularly  those  at  the  upper 
end,  happen  to  be  on  unfriendly  terms  with  the  men 
at  the  lower  end,  they  may  not  keep  the  ditch  clean, 
nor  let  down  enough  water  to  the  lower  farmers,  and 
the  latter  may  be  left  without  water,  or  may  be  flooded 
by  the  turning  down  of  a  large  and  unexpected  quantity 
during  the  night,  or  when  a  rainstorm  is  approaching. 

It  frequently  happens  in  new  communities  that  there 
are  small  groups  of  men  of  different  nationalities  or 
religions,  having  little  social  intercourse  with  each  other. 
Although  they  may  intend  to  be  fair  in  their  distribution, 

94 


METHODS  OF  OPERATION 

there  is  always  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to  what  con- 
stitutes fairness.  The  man,  or  group  of  men  in  the 
minority,  is  apt  to  be  oppressed  to  a  point  where  he 
thinks  that  he  must  seek  redress  by  force.  It  is  extremely 
difficult  and  expensive  to  take  such  matters  into  court, 
as  they  are  of  the  nature  of  neighborhood  quarrels,  and 
by  the  time  the  matter  is  settled  the  crops  may  be  burned 
up  for  lack  of  water. 

Thus  it  frequently  happens  that  the  apparent  economies 
of  operating  under  the  communal  system  are  more 
than  overcome  by  the  actual  losses  to  individuals  and 
by  the  destructive  neighborhood  quarrels  which  arise 
because  of  the  lack  of  a  simple,  effective  and  quick- 
acting  tribunal  or  official  who  can  render  immediate 
decision  and  rectify  obvious  wrongs. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  there  is  a  tendency  to  turn 
from  the  community  system  to  the  centralized  system, 
where  all  of  the  communities  and  people,  or  the  entire 
project,  are  represented  by  a  single  man  in  authority, 
guided  by  law  and  by  regulations  laid  down  by  ah1 
the  persons  concerned.  He  has  the  power  to  enforce 
these  rules  immediately,  and  to  see  to  it  that  equity  is 
done  to  each  individual,  no  matter  how  powerless  the 
latter  might  be  against  his  unfriendly  neighbors. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  practical  working  out  of 
the  community  system  may  be  given  an  instance  from 
Idaho:  The  community  officers  there  consist  of  a  sec- 
retary and  gate-tender,  elected  each  year  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  community  or  district — each  member  casting 
as  many  votes  as  he  has  acres  watered  from  the  lateral. 
The  secretary  keeps  the  record  of  each  settler's  work 
in  maintaining  the  lateral  in  repair.  He  also  orders 
and  superintends  such  work.  The  gate-tender  receives 

95 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

from  the  canal  system  the  amount  of  water  required 
for  the  members  of  the  district,  and  it  is  his  duty  to  see 
to  it  that  members  in  arrears  do  not  obtain  water. 

The  theory  of  this  plan  appears  admirable.  Unfor- 
tunately, however,  it  does  not  sufficiently  take  into  ac- 
count the  vagaries  of  human  nature.  Usually  the  district 
officers  are  not  paid  for  their  services,  and  therefore  do 
not  care  to  exert  themselves  unduly  in  the  performance  of 
their  duties.  Often  there  are  certain  members  of  a  dis- 
trict who  insist  in  taking  water  to  which  they  are  not 
entitled  either  through  not  having  paid  the  charges  due 
or  through  being  in  arrears  with  their  assessment  work 
for  maintaining  the  ditch.  Unless  the  gate-tender  is 
sufficiently  courageous  to  be  willing  to  provoke  a  quarrel 
with  such  neighbors  by  closing  down  their  headgates  and 
insisting  on  their  share  of  work  being  performed  or  paid 
for,  these  men  will  take  the  water  by  force, 
i  Several  of  the  laterals  being  thus  operated  are  from 
three  to  four  miles  in  length  and  supply  twenty  to  twenty- 
five  farms.  The  farmers  located  close  to  the  head  of  the 
lateral  can  obtain  water  with  little  work  or  effort,  and 
hence  they  leave  the  men  lower  down  to  wrestle  with  the 
problem  of  securing  water  the  best  way  they  can.  The 
former  oftentimes  hold  back  the  water  by  checks  in  the 
lateral,  so  that  those  at  the  lower  end  can  obtain  but 
a  very  meager  supply.  There  are  usually  no  locks  on  the 
structures  operated  by  a  small  community,  and  hence 
little  check  on  individual  action. 

Thus,  aside  from  the  burden  of  maintaining  long, 
sandy  ditches,  which  are  likely  to  blow  full  several  times 
a  year,  the  farmers  on  these  long  laterals  have  many 
contentions  among  themselves  as  to  water  service. 

On  some  laterals,  it  frequently  happens  that  some 

96 


METHODS  OF  OPERATION 

settlers  for  various  reasons  do  not  desire  to  use  the  water, 
and  perhaps  are  absent  from  their  ranches.  This  means 
that  the  balance  of  the  members  of  that  district  are 
obliged  to  maintain  the  lateral  at  their  own  expense,  as 
there  is  no  way  to  collect  from  the  men  who  will  not 
assist  with  the  work. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  conditions  outlined 
above  exist  on  all  canals.  Many  settlers  acting  under 
the  community  plan  are  receiving  water  from  laterals 
which  are  comparatively  short,  and  where  each  man  is 
disposed  to  do  his  share  for  the  common  good,  no  trouble 
exists.  On  the  other  hand,  even  on  a  small  district,  the 
election  of  officers  can  be  dictated  by  one  or  two  farmers 
having  the  majority  of  acreage,  and  the  ditch  operated, 
therefore,  according  to  their  wills. 

The  burden  imposed  on  the  settlers  by  reason  of  the 
requirement  to  maintain  and  operate  the  laterals  is  an 
uneven  one.  Some  laterals  are  long  and  sandy;  others 
are  short  and  give  little  trouble;  while  many  settlers 
living  adjacent  to  the  main  canals  have  their  own  private 
headgates,  and,  therefore,  are  at  no  expense  for  such 
lateral  maintenance. 

The  system  of  individual  delivery  by  a  central  authority 
is  much  more  equitable;  the  cost  is  distributed  evenly, 
and  any  complaint  as  to  inability  to  receive  water  may 
be  taken  up  directly  with  the  general  officers  whose  duty 
it  is  to  remedy  the  trouble. 

Community  Canals. — A  distinction  is  to  be  observed 
between  the  community  distribution  of  water  by  small 
group  of  farmers  under  a  large  modern  canal  and  that 
under  the  early  pioneer  enterprises  built  and  owned  by  a 
small  group  of  men  related  to  each  other  or  intimately 
bound  by  old  neighborhood  ties  or  united  by  interest. 

97 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

These  men  have  developed  through  years  a  certain  prac- 
tical scheme  of  cooperation  which  is  enforced  by  a  strong 
sense  of  mutual  aid.  In  the  case  of  a  system  built  by 
outside  capital,  where  settlers  have  come  together  from 
all  parts  of  the  world,  the  neighborhood  spirit  develops 
slowly,  and  a  generation  may  have  elapsed  before  this 
altruistic  attitude  is  prominent.  The  newcomers  do  not 
get  acquainted  with  each  other  readily,  as  each  is  busy 
getting  started  in  his  farm  work,  and  during  the  first  few 
years  there  is  such  shifting  of  population  that  few  per- 
manent ties  of  acquaintanceship  can  be  established. 

This  condition  is  illustrated,  for  example,  on  one  of 
the  projects,  where  certain  owners  of  lands  agreed  that 
the  management  should  furnish  water  to  the  group, 
measuring  it  into  the  upper  end  of  their  lateral.  This 
was  done  for  two  years,  but  the  continual  squabbles  over 
the  distribution  resulted  in  urgent  requests  that  the 
managers  take  over  the  operation  of  the  lateral  and 
deliver  water  to  each  individual.  This  was  agreed  to, 
providing  the  landowners  would  get  together  and  put  the 
lateral  in  good  order,  but  even  this  simple  detail  was 
almost  impracticable.  The  different  owners  had  gotten 
into  such  a  state  of  mind  that  they  were  not  on  speaking 
terms  with  each  other  and  were  utterly  helpless  to  deliver 
water  to  themselves  through  their  own  lateral. 

The  experience  of  the  Modesto  Irrigation  District  in 
California  is  interesting  in  this  connection,  as  the  large 
private  laterals  built  to  open  particular  tracts  of  land, 
and  originally  managed  independently  of  the  district,  have 
been  taken  over  by  the  district  at  the  request  of  the  irri- 
gators,  as  it  was  found  that  the  water  could  be  delivered 
more  satisfactorily  by  the  larger  organization. 


98 


METHODS  OF  OPERATION 

MEASURING   DEVICES 

Under  ideal  conditions,  there  should  be  a  simple  and 
accurate  measuring  device  at  the  field  of  every  farmer, 
by  which  the  quantity  of  water  delivered  to  him  may  be 
ascertained  by  the  canal-rider  and  by  the  farmer  him- 
self. In  this  respect  the  situation  of  the  individual  farmer 
is  like  that  of  the  water  consumer  of  the  city,  where 
economy  is  promoted  by  the  use  of  water  meters  for  each 
house  or  apartment. 

The  ideal  measuring  device  for  irrigation  is  yet  to 
be  invented.  There  are  almost  innumerable  methods 
in  use,  none  wholly  satisfactory,  but  some  better  adapted 
for  one  locality  than  another.  The  conditions  to  be 
met  by  a  practical  measuring  device  is  one  which  is 
relatively  inexpensive,  strong,  and  "  fool-proof  ";  does 
not  obstruct  the  flow  of  water,  nor  require  for  its  opera- 
tion an  excessive  amount  of  fall  of  the  water;  and  which 
is  not  easily  clogged  by  weeds  or  trash  but,  at  the  same 
time,  affords  fair  accuracy  in  measurement.  The  sim- 
plest and  most  generally  used  device  for  estimating  the 
quantity  of  water  delivered  to  the  farmer  is  a  rectangu- 
lar flume  or  box,  with  a  simple  wooden  slide-gate  con- 
trolling the  amount  of  water  which  can  enter  the  box.  This 
is  located  in  the  bank  of  the  canal  or  lateral  at  sufficient 
elevation  to  receive  water  when  the  lateral  is  only 
partly  full.  It  is  placed  at  right  angles  to  the  bank,  and 
nearly  horizontal,  or  with  slight  fall  away  from  the  canal. 

By  adjusting  the  gate  at  the  upper  end,  water  flows 
through  this  short  piece  of  flume,  or  box;  the  quantity 
of  water  is  estimated  roughly  from  the  height  at  which 
it  stands  in  the  box — that  is  to  say,  if  the  box  is  2  feet 
wide  and  the  water  is  flowing  with  a  depth  of  9  inches, 

99 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

the  area  of  cross-section  will  be  1J  square  feet;  if  the 
velocity  of  water  in  the  box  averages  4  linear  feet 
per  second,  there  will  be  a  delivery  of  6  cubic  feet  per 
second  to  the  land.  The  width  and  depth  of  water  can 
be  easily  ascertained  but  the  average  velocity  not  only 
varies  from  time  to  time,  due  to  various  causes,  but  is 
quite  difficult  to  estimate  with  any  degree  of  accuracy. 
This  estimation  is  generally  made  either  by  a  small  cur- 
rent meter  or  by  floats;  or  by  chips  thrown  on  the  surface, 
giving  an  approximate  result.  As  a  rule,  the  practical 
irrigator  trusts  to  his  eye  or  general  judgment  as  to  the 
quantity  of  water  which  is  issuing  from  one  of  these  boxes. 

The  estimates  made  from  these  crude  measuring  boxes 
are  sometimes  quite  close;  in  others,  they  may  be  50 
per  cent,  or  more  away  from  the  truth.  There  is  a  tend- 
ency to  underestimate,  and  especially  if  the  water  is 
moving  quietly  to  assume  that  there  is,  for  example, 
five  second-feet,  when  measurement  may  show  more 
nearly  eight.  Large  quantities  of  water  thus  disappear 
mysteriously  from  an  irrigation  system,  due  to  this 
reliance  upon  crude  devices  and  to  the  assumption  by 
so-called  practical  men  that  they  can  accurately  judge 
quantities  by  the  eye. 

Wherever  there  is  ample  fall  from  the  distributing 
lateral  to  the  fields  or  the  farm,  the  measuring  device 
giving  the  most  accurate  results  is  the  knife-edge  weir. 
This  may  be  either  rectangular  in  shape  or  with  inclined 
sides,  as  the  Cippoletti  weir,  or  the  V-notch. 

Weir  tables,  based  upon  experimental  data,  have 
been  constructed  for  various  sizes  and  shapes  of  meters 
and  give  results  accurately  within  two  or  three  per 
cent.  To  obtain  this  accuracy,  however,  it  is  necessary 
that  the  conditions  surrounding  the  weir  be  kept  similar 

100 


METHODS  OF  OPERATION.   , 

to  those  of  the  experimental  weir  from  which  the  tables 
were  computed;  the  approach  to  the  weir  must  be  kept 
clear  and  a  clear  overflow  be  provided,  without  ob- 
struction to  the  water  in  flowing  away  from  the  weir. 

Where  the  available  fall  is  slight,  submerged  weirs 
or  submerged  orifices  are  sometimes  used.  All  of  these 
devices  require  skill  and  attention,  and  for  accuracy  of 
measurement  they  should  be  systematically  inspected 
by  an  experienced  hydrographer  who  is  capable  of  mak- 
ing accurate  tests  and  determining  the  habitual  errors. 
The  canal-riders  must,  of  course,  make  the  daily  rounds 
and  record  the  height  of  water,  and  the  hydrographer, 
visiting  the  same  locality  at  longer  intervals,  should 
check  up  the  observations  made  by  the  canal-rider  and 
verify  the  assumptions  as  to  quantities  derived  from 
these  observations. 

Use  Book. — The  details  of  methods  of  operation  on  each 
large  irrigation  project  should  be  embodied  hi  a  small 
handbook  or  "  Use  Book "  prepared  for  convenience 
of  reference  by  the  canal-riders,  and  containing  instruc- 
tions which  are  to  be  observed  in  controlling  the  water, 
and  in  the  various  relations  with  the  water  users.  This 
should  be  accompanied  by  simple  hydraulic  tables  and 
illustrations  of  methods  of  estimating  the  flow  of  water 
in  weirs  or  boxes  of  various  sizes. 

In  some  instances  a  manual  of  the  kind  may  be  di- 
vided into  two  parts,  one  for  the  guidance  of  the  water- 
masters,  canal-riders  and  other  employees,  and  the  other 
part  for  the  information  of  the  water  users.  This  latter 
should  give  in  a  form  as  concisely  as  possible  the  con- 
ditions which  should  be  observed  by  each  water  user, 
for  the  general  protection  and  for  the  welfare  of  the 
entire  system. 

101 


CHAPTER  VII 
RECORDS  AND  SCHEDULES 

IN  these  days  when  "  efficiency  "  is  the  watchword 
and  when  "  costkeeping,"  "  motion  studies,"  "  stand- 
ards," "  systems,"  and  "  dispatch  "  fill  the  columns  of 
the  engineering  magazines  and  are  creeping  into  current 
literature,  the  irrigation  manager  is  being  drawn  into  the 
general  current  and  is  inquiring  into  the  modern  up- 
to-date  methods  of  keeping  and  analyzing  the  reports 
of  his  subordinates. 

NEED  OF  SYSTEM 

There  is  danger  here  of  going  from  one  extreme  to  an- 
other. Up  to  the  present  time  the  irrigation  management 
has  been  conspicuously  a  rule  of  thumb  operation,  or 
rather  a  development  by  each  individual  in  responsible 
charge  of  methods  to  suit  his  personal  ideas.  There 
has  been  no  system  or  standard  for  comparison  and  the 
statements  of  cost  of  one  feature  or  another  are  rarely 
comparable  because  they  are  not  based  on  grounds  of 
similarity. 

The  Reclamation  Service  of  the  Government  with 
its  twenty-five  projects  has  found  it  necessary  to  adopt 
a  certain  degree  of  uniformity.  Naturally  the  managers 
of  private  works,  large  and  small,  turn  to  it  for  sug- 
gestions in  these  matters.  As  a  result,  there  has  been 
brought  together  and  published  what  is  known  as  the 


RECORDS  AND  SCHEDULES 

"  Use  Book  "  devoted  to  the  details  of  operation  and 
maintenance,  and  which  gives  forms  for  keeping  records, 
these  being  presented  for  convenience  of  reference  and 
with  the  idea  of  gradually  bringing  about  a  degree  of 
uniformity  such  that  comparisons  may  later  be  made 
as  to  the  cost  of  all  similar  operations. 

CHARACTER  OF  RECORDS 

The  proper  maintenance  of  any  irrigation  works  re- 
quires the  keeping  of  some  records;  to  facilitate  the 
preparation  of  these,  it  is  important  to  have  blanks 
or  forms  which  will  give  the  information  needed  for 
immediate  use  and  for  future  study.  These  blanks 
should  be  of  such  size  and  form  as  to  be  most  convenient 
for  use,  and  give  the  necessary  facts  in  the  most  concise 
manner. 

The  most  important  records  of  any  irrigation  system 
are  those  based  primarily  upon  the  application  for  water 
by  the  consumers  or  water  users,  and  the  subsequent 
acts,  those,  in  order  of  use,  being  as  follows: 

1.  The  application  by  the  water  user  to  have  a  cer- 
tain quantity  of  water  turned  on  or  off  at  a  designated 
time. 

2.  Schedule  showing  these  requested  or  proposed  water 
deliveries. 

3.  The  record  of  the  fact  that  certain  quantities  of 
water  were  delivered  at  definite  times  to  described  areas 
or  crops. 

4.  The  assembling  of  the  total  of  water  deliveries  in 
comparison    with    the    amount    of   water    available    or 
received  into  and  delivered  out  of  various  parts  of  the 
irrigation  systems. 

103 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

These  records  of  quantities  of  water  and  times  of 
receipt  and  delivery  are  in  many  respects  similar  to  the 
inventories  of  goods  received  and  delivered  by  a  ware- 
house. They  are  necessarily  accompanied  by  the  finan- 
cial records  showing  the  amounts  of  money  due  or  paid, 
corresponding  to  the  quantities  of  water  delivered. 
While  many  irrigation  companies  keep  fairly  accurate 
books  showing  their  financial  condition,  relatively  few 
of  them  have  developed  a  complete  system  of  invoices 
or  inventories  of  water  such  as  has  been  found  necessary 
in  handling  commodities  in  any  well-conducted  mercantile 
institution. 

It  is  desirable  to  point  out  the  analogy  between  the 
control  of  water  as  a  commodity  and  that  of  the  ordi- 
nary articles  of  commerce.  It  is  easy  to  imagine,  for 
example,  that  under  crude  conditions  a  merchant  dealing 
for  instance  in  coal  could  carry  in  his  head  the  few  facts 
of  purchase  and  sale  of  coal  to  a  limited  number  of 
customers  or  could  divide  up  a  given  pile  of  coal  by 
the  eye  among  two  or  three  or  half  a  dozen  purchasers. 
As  his  business  increased  and  he  was  called  upon  to 
make  deliveries  to  hundreds  or  even  thousands  of  indi- 
viduals, the  old  easy-going  system  would  no  longer 
suffice.  He  must  develop  more  accurate  methods  of 
measurement  and  of  records  of  time  and  quantities, 
such  as  were  not  necessary  in  the  early  days. 

The  same  conditions  hold  true  of  the  delivery  of 
water.  Under  pioneer  conditions  where  a  few  neighbors 
constructed  a  small  canal,  the  distribution  of  the  water 
was  left  to  any  one  of  the  persons  concerned;  there 
was  no  particular  necessity  of  keeping  accurate  records, 
as  the  transactions  were  matters  of  common  knowledge. 
Thus,  there  has  grown  up  a  certain  "  free  and  easy  " 

104 


RECORDS  AND  SCHEDULES 

system  of  handling  water  in  some  parts  of  the  West 
with  the  inevitable  result  that  when  it  could  no  longer 
be  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  as  to  the  respective 
rights  of  all,  then  there  arose  innumerable  controversies 
and  the  condition  sometimes  described  as  "  winter 
friendship  "  in  distinction  to  the  summer  quarrels  when, 
during  the  crop  season  every  man  was  in  controversy 
with  his  neighbor  over  the  distribution  of  the  water 
supply. 

]fi  the  larger  system  controlled  by  corporations  or 
by  the  Government,  it  is  plainly  evident  that  to  avoid 
these  endless  controversies  there  must  be  instituted  a 
well-considered  system  based  upon  good  business  practice 
and  necessitating  the  keeping  of  simple  but  accurate 
records. 

APPLICATION  FOR  WATER. — The  water  user  must  judge 
for  himself,  as  far  as  possible,  as  to  the  time  and  quan- 
tity of  water  needed  for  his  crops  and  should  make 
request  in  advance  for  an  adequate  amount.  The  com- 
pliance with  this  request,  however,  must  be  governed 
to  a  certain  extent  by  the  general  conditions  on  the 
entire  irrigation  system,  that  is  to  say,  each  water 
user  must  conform  to  the  limitation  of  the  quantity  of 
water  available  and  to  the  capacity  of  the  system  for 
distributing  the  water.  He  cannot  expect  these  requests 
for  water  to  be  acceded  to  if  the  aggregate  of  all  requests 
totals  up  to  a  volume  in  excess  of  the  capacity  of  the 
lateral  or  if  his  request  is  made  for  a  date  of  delivery 
when,  under  a  well-considered  system,  the  lateral  is 
not  to  carry  water  on  that  day. 

It  may  require  some  years  of  experience  before  the 
individual  water  users  can  work  together  harmoniously 
in  this  respect  and  so  plan  the  crops  and  till  the  ground 

105 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

that  the  needs  for  water  and  requests  for  it  can  be 
synchronized  without  more  or  less  arbitrary  action  on 
the  part  of  the  watermaster.  Many  of  the  complaints 
on  a  new  irrigation  project  arise  from  the  fact  that 
during  the  first  few  years  there  are  apt  to  arise  fre- 
quent misunderstandings  on  this  matter.  The  adjust- 
ments which  must  be  made  by  the  men  in  the  control 
of  the  distribution  are  apt  to  be  regarded  as  unnecessarily 
severe.  Assuming,  however,  that  with  the  lapse  of  time 
the  people  as  a  whole  become  accustomed  to  the  neces- 
sary restrictions,  then  each  water  user  will  ask  for  delivery 
of  water  within  such  times  and  in  such  quantities  as  may 
be  consistent  with  the  most  economical  handling  of  the 
water. 

Requests  for  delivery  are  usually  made  by  filling  out 
some  form  of  card  provided  for  the  purpose  as  shown  on 
pages  86  or  107,  or  by  a  note  written  by  the  water 
user,  giving  the  essential  facts  as  to  time  and  quantity. 
This  card  or  note  is  usually  left  in  a  small  box  or  tin  can 
attached  to  the  headgate  of  the  farmer's  delivery  lateral, 
this  receptacle  being  arranged  in  such  a  way  as  to  pro- 
tect the  card  from  wind  and  weather,  and  to  be  readily 
accessible  to  the  canal-rider  on  his  daily  rounds.  If 
there  is  available  telephone  connection,  the  requests  for 
water  are  frequently  transmitted  by  telephone  to  the 
nearest  watermaster  and  suitable  orders  issued  by  him. 
In  every  case,  however,  of  telephone  request,  there  should 
be  a  requirement  that  the  request  be  followed  by  a 
postcard  or  other  written  form  confirming  the  fact. 
In  the  case  of  disputes  little  weight  can  be  attached  to 
any  oral  statement  which  is  not  supported  by  such 
written  evidence.  It  has  been  found  in  practical  exper- 
ience that  unless  this  requirement  is  adhered  to,  there 

106 


RECORDS  AND  SCHEDULES 

arise  innumerable  claims  that  water  was  ordered  by 
telephone  and  that  proper  attention  was  not  given  to 
the  order.  Where  the  order  is  followed  up  by  written 
communication,  this  fact  can  be  proved  or  disproved. 

WATER  REQUEST 

191... 

I  hereby  request  delivery  of  water  at  the  rate  of 

second-feet      .  for  ..^'beginning 191..., 

miner  s  inches  hours 

at  turnout  No on lateral  or  canal  to  irri- 
gate the  following  crops : acres  of ;  acres 

of ;  acres  of 


Water  User's  Farm  Unit  or 
Holding 


(To  be  filled  out  by  Water  User) 


Water  User. 


To  the  Water  User. — In  requesting  water  service  give  at  least  two  days' 
advance  notice  of  your  needs,  using  one  of  these  cards  for  each  run  of  water 
from  each  turnout. 

*  Cross  out  word  that  does  not  apply. 

DAILY  SCHEDULES. — From  the  written  requests  made 
by  the  water  users,  there  is  made  up  a  general  schedule  of 
distribution  of  water  for  the  succeeding  day.  In  order  to 
prepare  this  satisfactorily  all  requests  for  water  should 
be  in  the  hands  of  the  water-master  at  least  twenty-four 
hours  in  advance  of  the  proposed  delivery.  Knowing  the 

107 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

demands  made  upon  each  lateral  it  then  becomes  the  duty 
of  the  watermaster  to  study  these  demands,  to  apportion 
the  water  from  the  principal  canal  to  the  laterals  and 
from  the  laterals  to  the  farm  in  such  way  as  to  accommo- 
date the  most  farmers  and  at  the  same  time  operate  the 
laterals  efficiently. 

It  is  desirable  as  a  rule  to  arrange  for  water  deliveries 
at  the  far  end  of  each  lateral  as  noted  on  page  84;  that 
is  to  say,  to  consider  first  the  needs  of  the  man  farthest 
away  from  the  supply  canal.  If  this  is  done,  and  the  full 
stream  is  allowed  to  flow  down  to  the  end  of  the  lateral, 
there  is  reasonable  assurance  that  everyone  will  be  able 
to  obtain  a  proper  amount.  If,  however,  the  man  nearest 
the  source  of  supply  is  first  provided  for,  there  is  always 
danger  that  by  the  time  the  diminished  stream  reaches 
the  lower  end  there  will  not  be  enough  for  equitable  dis- 
tribution. 

The  arrangement  of  the  daily  schedule,  therefore,  usually 
begins  with  provision  for  the  lowest  user  and  then  with 
apportionment  of  quantity  of  water  into  one  or  more 
heads,  arranging  this  in  order  upstream,  so  that  the  canal- 
rider  can  make  continued  progress  and  not  be  compelled 
to  turn  back  on  his  daily  rounds. 

If  all  of  the  farms  are  of  nearly  equal  size  and  the  crop 
conditions  are  similar,  the  problem  of  distribution  is  quite 
simple;  that  is  to  say,  if  the  irrigating  head  is  three 
second-feet  and  each  man  in  turn  takes  this  full  head  for 
a  certain  number  of  hours,  the  schedule  consists  simply 
of  noting  the  fact  of  turning  the  full  capacity  of  the  lateral 
to  the  lowest  man  a  given  number  of  hours,  then  cutting 
it  off,  and  giving  it  to  the  next  higher  man  for  an  additional 
number  of  hours,  and  so  on,  each  receiving  a  supply  on 
a  time  basis.  The  measurements  under  these  conditions 

108 


RECORDS  AND  SCHEDULES 

are  simple  as  it  is  necessary  merely  to  make  a  single 
measurement  of  the  quantity  flowing  into  the  lateral  and 
apportion  this  by  hours  and  minutes. 

Where,  however,  the  capacity  of  the  lateral  is  say  fifteen 
second-feet,  and  the  average  use  by  each  man  is  only 
three  second-feet,  then  five  water  users  theoretically  may 
be  supplied  at  the  same  time.  Such  division,  however, 
necessitates  measurement  to  each  man  and  the  complica- 
tion further  increases  if  the  size  of  head  going  to  each  man 
differs  widely;  one  person,  for  example,  desiring  less  than 
a  second-foot  for  orchard  or  garden  use,  another  ten  second- 
feet  and  so  on.  Under  these  conditions  the  work  of  the 
canal-rider  and  consequently  his  records  become  quite 
complicated. 

In  arranging  the  daily  schedule,  consideration  must  be 
given  not  only  to  all  of  these  complicated  matters,  but 
also  to  the  fact  that  the  water  is  not  flowing  in  a  close 
or  tight  conduit  and  that  there  is  considerable  loss  in 
transit,  especially  at  certain  points  through  seepage  in 
sand  or  gravel.  Thus  allowance  must  be  made  for  these 
losses  and  also  for  the  length  of  time  required  for  the 
water  to  traverse  the  distance  of  five  or  ten  miles  from 
the  point  of  inflow  from  the  supply  canal. 

The  constantly  fluctuating  quantity  in  the  lateral,  due 
to  the  frequent  changes  of  the  gates  or  orifices  leading  to 
the  various  farms,  renders  the  situation  in  practice  quite 
difficult,  and  requires  not  only  experience  in  that  par- 
ticular locality,  but  a  degree  of  judgment  on  the  part  of 
the  canal-rider  which  can  be  obtained  only  through 
months  or  years  of  practical  operation. 

CANAL-RIDERS'  RECORDS.  The  canal-rider  must  be 
provided  with  a  small  notebook  or  card,  of  convenient  size 
and  arrangement  for  making  note  of  the  amount  of  water 

109 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

entering  each  gate  and  for  recording  all  other  matters  of 
interest,  as  he  is  making  his  daily  rounds.  It  is  of  the 
highest  importance  that  this  original  record  on  the  form 
given  on  page  111  be  made  on  the  spot  and  be  preserved 
for  future  reference.  There  is  constant  temptation  on  the 
part  of  the  canal-rider  to  neglect  to  make  notes  at  the 
time  but  to  wait  until  a  convenient  moment  or  until  the 
end  of  the  day  and  to  trust  to  his  memory  regarding 
details. 

The  excuses  offered  for  not  making  immediate  entry  are 
that  the  wind  was  blowing  or  there  were  other  confusing 
circumstances  or  his  hands  were  cramped  or  soiled  by 
using  a  shovel  or  other  implement,  or  he  was  fearful  of 
not  being  able  to  make  neat  figures  or  write  legibly  while 
standing.  He  may  be  thus  tempted  to  make  certain 
rough  marks  on  the  back  of  an  old  envelope  or  scrap  of 
paper  and  then  transfer  these  to  his  notebook  in  the 
evening  when  he  can  sit  at  a  table  or  desk  and  thus  pre- 
pare a  more  creditable-appearing  record.  This,  however, 
is  the  very  thing  to  be  avoided. 

It  is  far  better  to  have  a  rough  and  soiled  original  me- 
morandum, which  has  been  prepared  on  the  spot  and  con- 
cerning which  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  faithful 
recording  of  the  facts  as  observed.  Such  notes  made  at 
the  time  may  be  amplified  later,  if  necessary,  but  they 
should  be  preserved  and  filed  for  consultation  in  case  of 
any  question  arising  concerning  the  facts  as  they  existed. 
If  it  is  inconvenient  to  transmit  the  original  notes  to  the 
central  office  at  the  end  of  the  day,  the  transcript  may  be 
made  and  the  original  allowed  to  remain  in  the  possession 
of  the  canal-rider  until  the  end  of  the  week  or  month,  but 
ultimately  they  should  be  put  upon  the  file  in  such  form 
that  they  can  be  referred  to  readily. 

110 


<u 

! 

s  ^ 

^  — 

•3 

&  p  *^ 

C« 

~ 

0) 

< 

"C      ^ 

ss 

l-l    ^> 

O 

0 

>elivered. 

Quantity 
in 
Acre-ft. 

II 

£  fi 

T3 

-, 

gH 

^    0 

5 

"S 

§K 

W  3  35 

El 

O 

0 

u  £ 

ga 

c  2: 

E"o3 
c5 

°3 

1  ^ 

13 

^ 

^ 

s 

^ 

s 

^ 

~ 

s 

s 

- 

g 

- 

- 

•2  ^ 

i 

d 

o 

3 

•S  J3 

0) 

p: 

^ 

s 

2 

s 

2 

s 

s 

s 

g 

g 

~ 

s 

—    t 

g 

d 

"  "^ 

0 

C    * 

H 

8)  H 

• 

i 

K 

3      m 

*.s^ 

|| 

M 

SJ  a 

bo 

£ 

3 

IS 

0 

M 

0) 

a 

!' 

o, 

^  ^ 

p 

-IS    o3 

0    S 

<U    ^ 

i:  o> 

bo 

i 

"§§ 

03 

i=, 

l3 

•c 

C 

s 

«« 

5  ° 

°  2 

w    M 

0 

•3 

iSa 

1-2 

I" 

gs 

0 

^Q- 

I.I 

E 

=  30 

=  0^; 

•si 

S  .2 

I 

o 

•3^^ 

l! 

i 
> 

(-1 

-s^ 

H  A 

"S 

r^^ 

*    8 

! 

.  £ 

0 

0 

111 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

Office  Compilation. — The  records  turned  in  daily  or  at 
short  intervals  by  the  canal-riders  form  the  basis  of  the 
more  important  office  records  relating  to  water  delivery 
or  losses,  crop  conditions,  and  other  facts  having  to  do 
with  the  economic  administration  of  the  system.  As 
before  stated,  the  original  notes  made  at  the  time  of 
observation  should  ultimately  be  deposited  in  the  central 
office  and  so  classified  and  arranged  as  to  be  accessible 
for  ready  reference  in  case  of  dispute.  The  fact  that  these 
original  notes  are  thus  available  goes  a  long  way  toward 
preventing  contentions  from  arising.  Appeal  to  these  has 
often  saved  a  large  expense  in  time  and  money  in  settling 
points  which  otherwise  might  have  been  disputed. 

The  essential  facts  given  in  the  canal-riders'  notes 
should  be  at  once  tabulated  upon  blanks,  usually  arranged 
in  the  form  of  loose-leaf  ledgers,  showing  from  day  to 
day  the  total  amount  of  water  received  and  delivered  at 
various  points.  The  summation  of  these  figures  give  not 
only  the  total  use  but  also  the  losses  which  occur  at  vari- 
ous points.  These  losses  should  be  carefully  studied  so 
that  if  the  quantity  appears  to  be  abnormal  prompt  in- 
vestigation should  be  made  and  the  difficulties  corrected. 

The  notes  also  which  relate  to  crop  conditions  should 
be  promptly  assembled  in  convenient  form  for  ready 
reference,  so  as  to  exhibit  the  acreage  of  various  crops 
and  the  amount  of  water  used  or  needed,,  thus  permit- 
ting a  broad  consideration  of  probable  demands  for 
future  deliveries.  By  having  reasonably  accurate  data 
of  the  crop,  acreage,  and  conditions,  it  is  possible  to 
arrive  at  the  probable  amount  of  water  needed  from  any 
given  reservoir  or  other  source  of  supply,  and  to  make 
corresponding  arrangements  for  holding  storage  in 
reserve. 


RECORDS  AND  SCHEDULES 

CHECKING  RECORDS. — From  time  to  time  careful  in- 
spection should  be  made  to  see  that  the  records  kept  by 
the  various  canal-riders  are  reasonably  accurate.  This 
inspectiion  should  be  done  by  the  watermaster  or  super- 
intendent or  by  an  assistant  to  the  manager.  These 
men  should  visit  various  portions  of  the  system  at  irreg- 
ular intervals  and  go  over  the  work  of  the  canal-riders 
either  with  them  or  following  them  in  such  way  as  to 
ascertain  whether  the  work  is  being  carried  on  according 
to  instructions.  The  inspector  should  also  note  the  gen- 
eral condition  of  the  crops  and  from  conversation  with 
the  farmers  ascertain  the  degree  of  satisfaction  with  the 
water  service,  in  this  respect  supplementing  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  irrigation  manager  regarding  these  details. 

Hydrographers. — All  measurements  and  computations 
of  flow  of  water  through  measuring  boxes  or  other 
devices  should  be  checked  by  competent  engineering 
assistants  from  time  to  time  to  ascertain  whether  there 
are  any  notable  errors  in  measurement.  It  frequently 
happens  that  weirs  or  other  forms  of  measurement 
become  obstructed  by  sand  or  by  the  growth  of  weeds. 
Thus  the  daily  readings  by  the  canal-riders  may  not 
accurately  give  the  facts.  It  should  be  the  duty  of  some 
one  or  more  of  the  employees  having  engineering  ex- 
perience to  systematically  check  these  measurements. 
This  work  may  be  done  by  one  of  the  superintendents 
or  assistants  to  the  manager,  or  in  some  cases  by  a  canal- 
rider,  particularly  if  these  positions  have  been  filled  by 
young  graduates  from  agricultural  colleges  who  have 
had  some  engineering  training. 

It  is  highly  desirable  to  let  it  be  understood  that  the 
more  intelligent  or  better-educated  canal-riders  may 
ttms  be  advanced  and  designated  as  hydrographers 

113 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

after  they  have  served  an  apprenticeship  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  water.  By  so  doing,  encouragement  is  given 
to  the  men  in  the  field  to  perfect  themselves  along  these 
technical  lines  and  an  inducement  is  held  out  for  more 
effective  services. 

Notices  to  Farmers. — Each  farmer  should  be  notified 
at  short  intervals  as  to  the  amount  of  water  which  he 
has  received.  Even  though  there  is  plenty  of  water  for 
all,  it  is  important  to  keep  the  farmer  informed  as  to 
the  amount  delivered  to  him,  as  indicated  by  the  form  on 
page  115,  so  that  he  may  guide  his  operations  accordingly, 
and,  if  he  is  applying  too  much,  let  him  know  that 
improper  use  is  likely  to  be  of  injury  not  only  to  his  own 
land,  but  to  that  of  his  neighbors. 

The  making  of  necessary  measurements  and  clerical 
work  in  notifying  the  farmers  involves  some  consider- 
able expenditure,  but  it  is  believed  that  this  expenditure 
is  well  worth  the  cost,  even  on  projects  where  there  is  an 
abundant  supply  of  water.  At  first  the  farmers  are 
usually  incredulous  as  to  the  amount  of  water  they  have 
had,  and  even  resent  the  statements  sent  to  them,  but 
in  the  course  of  time  they  come  to  look  for  these  records 
as  essential  to  their  guidance.  See  also  page  251. 

WATERMASTER'S  RECORD. — The  watermaster  or  super- 
intendent in  charge  of  the  main  canal  or  of  a  large  unit 
of  an  irrigation  system  should  have  desk  room  or  space 
at  his  house  or  in  a  conveniently  located  office  where  a 
few  necessary  records  can  be  kept  and  where  daily  scru- 
tiny and  compilations  of  the  canal-riders'  notes  can  be 
made.  It  is  necessary  to  have  telephone  facilities  such 
that  the  watermaster  when  at  his  desk  during  a  certain 
small  portion  of  each  day  will  be  able  to  keep  in  touch 
with  the  canal-riders  and  with  such  farmers  as  have 


RECORDS  AND  SCHEDULES 

telephone  communication.  All  important  events  should 
be  noted  in  his  diary,  and  brief  minutes  made  on  what 
may  be  called  his  office  blotter,  of  the  requests  for  water, 
complaints,  weather  changes,  and  other  items. 


MONTHLY  WATER  STATEMENT 


191 


Dear  Sir: 
Below  is  an  abstract  of  water  deliveries  for  this  irrigation 

season  to at  turnout 

on lateral(s).    Any  error  in   this   state- 
ment should  be  promptly  reported. 


Acre-feet  of 

Water 

Total        Per 

acre  irrigated 

Entitled  to 

Delivered  : 
Previous  to 

During 

Total  to 

Balance  due 

Farm  unit  or  holding          ;  acres  irrigable   . 

Sec         T     ..R  ;    Sec  

.T....R.... 

Sec  T....R....;    Sec.... 

.T....R.... 

Very  truly  yours, 

Project  Manager. 

Inspection  Reports. — Systematic  inspection  is  neces- 
sary to  maintain  and  improve  the  efficiency  and  econ- 
omy of  operation  and  should  be  carried  on  by  the  project 
manager,  or  by  his  assistants,  acting  as  inspectors.  The 
records  of  such  inspection  should  be  carefully  preserved 

115 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

and  arranged  in  such  way  as  to  show  the  true  condition 
of  the  work  performed  by  each  man  in  responsible 
charge.  The  person  acting  as  inspector  should  be  free 
to  visit  any  part  of  the  work  and  should  make  note  on 
the  ground  of  the  conditions  of  the  work  and  of  all  mat- 
ters which  need  attention.  Included  in  this  should  be 
substance  of  conversation  with  water  users  and  brief 
note  of  complaints  made  by  them.  It  is  only  by  sys- 
tematic inspection  and  by  preserving  in  concise  form 
the  essential  records  that  any  organization  can  be  kept 
on  a  high  plane  of  efficiency.  The  inspector's  notes 
should  refer  to  the  water  deliveries,  amount  of  water 
found  at  various  points  at  the  time  of  his  visit,  and  the 
condition  of  the  structures,  especially  the  gates,  delivery 
boxes,  and  measuring  devices,  waste  of  water  or  seepage, 
development  of  alkali,  necessity  of  cleaning  or  extending 
the  drains,  also  the  character  of  the  crops,  and  the  general 
attitude  of  the  irrigators  as  indicated  by  conversation 
had  with  them. 

GENEKAL  RECORDS. — In  the  above  discussion  refer- 
ence has  been  made  mainly  to  those  records  which  have 
to  do  with  the  delivery  of  water  and  keeping  account 
of  it  as  would  be  done  in  the  case  of  any  commercial 
commodity.  Emphasis  has  been  placed  upon  this  matter 
because  most  of  the  irrigation  systems,  even  those  of 
considerable  size,  keep  few,  if  any,  records  of  this  kind 
and  to  this  extent,  at  least,  the  methods  which  are 
above  described  are  novel. 

In  addition  there  are,  however,  other  general  records 
which,  of  course,  must  be  kept,  similar  to  those  of  any 
business  undertaking — notably  those  which  have  to  do 
with  the  collection  of  annual  dues  for  operation  and 
maintenance  and  installments  on  the  cost  of  the  water. 

116 


RECORDS  AND  SCHEDULES 

Also  data  should  be  preserved  concerning  the  weather 
conditions,  the  status  of  the  lands,  the  yield  and  con- 
dition of  the  crops,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  a  summary 
of  what  has  been  accomplished  by  the  farmers  as  well 
as  the  totals  of  water  deliveries,  storage,  losses,  etc. 
All  of  these  belong  in  the  more  or  less  ordinary  methods 
of  bookkeeping  and  of  taking  account  of  stock,  but  as 
before  stated,  the  novel  feature  and  one  which  should 
be  more  generally  introduced  is  that  of  keeping  careful 
record  of  the  use  and  losses  of  the  water  in  the  irri- 
gation system  day  by  day  throughout  the  season  in  which 
the  canals  are  operated. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
WATER  ECONOMY 

More  Land  than  Water. — There  is  far  more  tillable 
land  than  there  is  water  for  the  crops  which  might  be 
grown  upon  this  land.  Such  is  the  condition  in  the  arid 
regions,  which  in  area  are  estimated  to  form  two-fifths 
of  the  entire  extent  of  the  United  States.  Here  are 
millions  of  acres  of  good  land,  which  can  be  cultivated 
whenever  an  adequate  supply  of  water  for  irrigation  is 
had.  The  quantity  of  this  water,  however,  is  relatively 
small  and  the  extent  to  which  this  otherwise  valuable 
land  can  be  used  for  providing  opportunities  for  homes 
for  citizens  is  dependent  upon  the  care  with  which  the 
fluctuating  water  supply  is  stored  and  used  on  the  lands. 
Every  acre-foot  of  water  saved  may  mean  a  half-acre  of 
good  land  added  to  the  productive  capacity  of  the 
community.  Economy  in  the  use  of  water  is  thus  not 
only  a  matter  of  personal  profit  but  is  a  public  duty. 

To  bring  about  the  prevention  of  waste  of  water  and 
the  consequent  reduction  of  the  losses  to  individuals 
and  communities,  there  must  be  a  lively  realization  of 
the  evil  effects  of  this  waste  and  a  determination  on  the 
part  of  everyone  concerned  to  bring  about  needed 
economies.  No  laws  or  regulations  can  be  fully  effective 
in  this  matter  unless  there  is  a  deep-seated  and  united 
public  spirit  pervading  the  community,  sustaining  and 
urging  forward  the  efforts  of  the  responsible  public 

118 


WATER  ECONOMY 

servants,  so  that  they  will  seek  out  each  lapse  and  correct 
all  negligence. 

PREVENTION  OF  LOSSES 

The  avoidable  waste  of  water  in  irrigation  occurs 
in  two  distinct  ways:  first,  losses  in  the  open  canals 
and  laterals,  taking  water  to  the  agricultural  lands; 
second,  and  even  more  important,  the  excessive  appli- 
cation of  the  water  to  the  fields  by  the  individual  water 
user. 

The  prevention  of  waste  from  the  canals  is  largely 
a  matter  for  the  engineer  in  charge  of  the  work  to  care- 
fully study.  It  is  to  a  certain  extent  under  his  control, 
limited  mainly  by  the  financial  resources  available  for 
lining  the  canals.  The  other,  and  usually  more  destruct- 
ive wastes,  which  arise  from  the  individual  carelessness 
or  lack  of  effort  on  the  part  of  the  hundreds  or  thousands 
of  water  users,  are  less  susceptible  of  direct  control. 
Lapses  here  must  be  met,  as  above  stated,  largely  by 
the  growth  of  a  sound  public  sentiment  on  the  part  of 
the  community. 

CANAL  LOSSES. — The  waste  of  water  which  occurs  in 
transmission  in  open,  earthen  channels  is  greatest  usually 
at  the  time  following  that  when  the  canal  system  is 
first  built,  but  as  a  rule  it  gradually  decreases  as  the 
soil  becomes  more  compact,  and  the  pervious  gravel 
bottom  and  sides  of  the  canal  are  covered  by  a  layer 
of  fine  mud,  or  sediment  which  is  carried  by  the  per- 
colating water  into  the  interstices  between  the  sand  or 
pebbles,  gradually  sealing  these  up. 

Some  main-line  canals  have  been  built  through  beds 
of  coarse  gravel  or  cobblestone,  in  which  at  first  the 

119. 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

entire  flow  disappeared  in  the  course  of  its  passage 
over  a  few  miles.  The  finer  material  washed  along  by 
the  waters,  however,  has  gradually  formed  a  lining. 
This  process  is  assisted  by  putting  a  layer  of  clay  or 
puddle  in  the  bed  of  the  canal  or  by  turning  in  muddy 
water.  In  the  course  of  two  or  three  years,  it  results 
that  with  proper  methods  even  these  canals  n  gravel 
become  reasonably  tight  and  the  water  losses  are  gradually 
reduced. 

The  same  condition  prevails  in  the  distributing  or 
lateral  system  built  through  the  ordinary  surface  soil. 
At  first  the  loss  of  water  is  larger,  but  with  careful 
manipulation  and  puddling  the  losses  are  reduced  until 
the  amount  of  waste  through  seepage  is  brought  to  a  mini- 
mum of  one  per  cent,  per  mile  or  even  less. 

Even  with  the  best  of  care,  it  may  not  be  practicable 
to  reduce  seepage  losses  in  certain  soils  and  there  it 
becomes  necessary  to  consider  the  question  of  lining 
the  canal  with  cement  or  using  a  pipe  to  carry  the  water 
over  the  pervious  area. 

As  a  temporary  expedient,  on  new  canals  wooden 
flumes  are  occasionally  employed,  but  these  quickly 
decay;  if  adequate  capital  is  available  they  should  be 
replaced  by  permanent  metal  or  concrete-lined  canals. 
The  economy  of  water  and  ability  to  distribute  it  to 
other  areas  will  usually  justify  the  added  expense, 
especially  when  the  injury  frequently  caused  by  the  water 
thus  lost  is  considered. 

The  losses  from  canals  and  laterals  are  usually  in 
proportion  to  the  wetted  area,  that  is  to  say,  to  the 
number  of  square  feet  or  square  yards  covered  by  the 
water  in  the  canal.  It  is  dependent  upon  the  character 
of  the  ground  through  which  the  canal  is  built.  If  con- 

120 


WATER  ECONOMY 

• 

structed  in  rock,  there  is  usually  little  water  lost  except 
through  the  occasional  seams.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  is  in  loose  gravel,  the  entire  flow  may  at  first  dis- 
appear in  the  course  of  a  half-mile  or  more.  In  ordinary 
earth  or  loam,  the  losses  are  relatively  small  and  may 
average  from  one  to  two  per  cent,  per  mile. 

It  is  of  the  first  importance  for  a  manager  of  a  canal 
system  to  ascertain  by  systematic  measurements  the 
losses  which  take  place  from  point  to  point  in  the  canals 
and  to  consider  the  relative  cost  of  lining  those  portions 
of  the  canal  where  the  losses  are  greatest. 

These  losses  are  best  expressed  in  terms  of  the  depth  in 
feet  lost  in  twenty-four  hours  through  the  wetted  perimeter 
of  the  canal  prism.1 

They  may  vary  from  a  depth  of  0.3  foot  in  cement- 
gravel  and  hard  pan  to  0.4  in  clay  and  clay  loam  and  up  to 
as  high  as  1.0  foot  in  sand  and  to  2.2  feet  in  sandy  and 
gravelly  soil.  The  effect  of  velocity  in  reducing  seepage 
losses  is  shown  in  a  certain  instance  where  by  increasing 
velocity  from  1  foot  to  3  feet  per  second,  there  was  a 
reduction  in  seepage  loss  from  3.0  to  1.7  cubic  feet  per 
second  per  mile.  To  prevent  all  losses  in  one  case,  a  clay 
puddle  was  put  on  a  porous  soil  where,  after  two  weeks 
of  constant  labor  day  and  night  and  the  expenditure  of 
about  $2,000,  equivalent  to  about  10  cents  per  square 
yard,  the  canal  was  made  perfectly  water-tight.  The 
necessity  of  this  work  and  the  resulting  gain  would  not 
have  been  apparent  had  not  good  records  been  kept. 

Canal  Lining. — The  lining  of  a  canal  or  lateral,  as  above 
stated,  may  consist  simply  of  a  clay  puddle  or  may  be  more 
elaborate  and  expensive,  cement  or  concrete  being  used 

1  See  article  on  seepage  losses  from  earth  canals  by  E.  A.  Moritz 
in  Engineering  News,  Aug.  28,  1913,  p.  402. 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

to  render  the  banks  impervious.  The  question  of  cost 
enters  here  and  its  relation  to  the  benefits  which  may  be 
received.  While  a  concrete  lining  of  from  four  to  six 
inches  in  thickness  is  undoubtedly  suited  to  some  locali- 
ties, yet  the  cost  is  practically  prohibitory  for  general  use, 
and  less  expensive  devices  have  been  tried.  Among  these 
are  rubble  walls  set  in  lime  mortar  and  plastered  with 
cement  mortar.  Oil  has  also  been  used  on  some  canals, 
mostly  in  California,  but  this  stops  only  a  part  of  the 
seepage  and  is  not  practicable  for  all  localities. 

Ordinary  plaster  applied  to  the  walls  of  small  canals 
has  been  effective  in  some  places,  but  if  not  well  drained 
the  water  gets  in  behind  the  lining  and  soon  causes  it  to 
crack  off.  To  remedy  this  condition  the  lining  has  been 
reinforced  with  ordinary  mesh  wire  such  as  that  used  for 
garden  fences  or  poultry  runs.  One  large  item  of  expense 
which  is  eliminated  in  this  way  is  the  doing  away  of  the 
forms,  wooden  or  metal,  which  make  progress  slow.  The 
chicken  wire  is  fastened  to  the  sides  and  bottom  of  the 
canal  or  lateral  with  nails  or  staples  made  out  of  ordinary 
fence  wire. 

The  principal  difficulty  in  work  of  this  class  is  to  get 
the  plastering  done  well  as  it  requires  careful  inspection 
to  see  that  the  workmen  work  the  cement  in  thoroughly. 
To  overcome  this  difficulty  the  so-called  "  cement  gun  " 
is  used,  by  which  cement  is  shot  under  a  pressure  of 
approximately  forty  pounds  to  the  square  inch.1  It  is 
mixed  as  applied  and  leaves  the  nozzle  at  a  velocity  of 
two  hundred  feet  per  second,  consequently  there  is  no 
appreciable  time  between  the  mixing  and  laying  and  it 
is  denser  and  of  greater  tensile  strength  than  when  applied 

1  See  Engineering  and  Contracting,  Apr.  1,  1914,  p  397. 


WATER  ECONOMY 

by  hand.  The  cement  gun  is  operated  by  a  small  com- 
pressor driven  by  a  gas  engine,  all  being  mounted  in  such 
way  as  to  be  easily  moved  from  place  to  place. 

Canal  linings  on  which  the  mortar  has  been  applied 
with  the  cement  gun  or  by  hand  are  feasible  in  open 
gravels  which  are  common  throughout  a  great  part  of 
the  arid  region.  In  this  material  as  mortar  adheres 
firmly  to  the  irregularities  of  the  gravel  face,  an  excellent 
bond  is  insured  and  the  openings  of  the  gravel  backing 
give  sufficient  drainage  to  prevent  heaving  from  frost  ac- 
tion. For  sandy  and  loamy  soil  where  greater  thickness 
of  lining  may  be  required  the  ordinary  method  would 
undoubtedly  be  the  better,  but  with  the  cement  gun, 
where  seepage  through  gravel  is  to  be  prevented,  it  ap- 
pears that  the  mortar  is  driven  more  thoroughly  into 
the  interstices  than  is  possible  with  hand  work.  In  this 
way  canal  lining  of  from  1  inch  to  1J  inch  in  thickness 
can  be  placed  at  a  cost  of  less  than  7  cents  per  square 
foot,  of  which  the  greatest  cost,  or  about  one-third  the 
total,  is  for  cement.  In  any  considerable  length  of  canal 
where  sand  is  accessible  this  cost  could  be  reduced  to  5 
cents  per  square  foot  for  a  2  to  1  Portland  cement  mor- 
tar with  cement  at  not  over  $2  per  barrel  on  the  work. 

There  are  almost  innumerable  ways  of  stating  the  cost 
of  canal  lining,  the  most  important  of  these  being  by  the 
square  foot  or  square  yard,  or  in  the  case  of  small  dis- 
tributaries by  the  linear  foot.  The  thickness  of  the  lining 
must  always  be  considered  at  the  same  time  and  to  make 
comparisons  among  canals  of  different  sizes  it  is  usually 
preferable  to  state  the  cost  per  cubic  yard  of  material 
handled.  As  an  example  of  costs  under  ordinary  hand 
methods  may  be  given  the  lining  of  a  canal  at  Riverside, 
California,  2  feet  wide  on  bottom  and  approximately  8 

123 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

feet  wide  on  top,  4  feet  3  inches  deep,  with  concrete  2 
inches  thick  on  the  side,  and  3  inches  on  the  bottom,  the 
cost  being  about  $1  per  linear  foot.  On  the  Umatilla 
project  in  Oregon,  as  reported  by  H.  D.  Newell,  the  canal 
lining,  4  inches  in  thickness,  has  been  placed  by  hand  at 
a  cost  of  about  $7  per  cubic  yard  including  all  general 
or  overhead  expenses.  Where  the  smaller  distributaries 
were  cleaned  and  lined  with  1^-inch  cement  mortar  the 
cost  including  general  expense  was  50  cents  per  square 
yard,  and  where  excavation  was  not  necessary,  about  45 
cents  per  square  yard — excellent  results  being  had  with 
thin  mortar  lining  from  an  inch  to  1^  inches  in  thickness. 
WASTE  WATER. — The  record  of  the  amount  and  char- 
acter of  the  waste  water  is  the  most  convincing  evidence 
of  the  degree  of  care  with  which  an  irrigation  system  is 
being  operated.  The  occurrence  of  waste  water  in  any 
considerable  quantity  shows  that  somewhere  there  is  care- 
lessness or  inefficiency.  The  loss  is  not  simply  that  of 
the  water  itself,  which  may  be  in  excess  at  that  time  of 
year,  but  it  is  closely  connected  with  far  greater  loss, 
namely  that  of  the  fertility  of  the  soil.  This  waste  water 
usually  carries  with  it  in  solution  more  or  less  of  the 
valuable  soil  constituents  which  are  needed  in  crop  pro- 
duction. It  frequently  happens  that  the  irrigator  is  not 
only  robbing  the  soil  by  taking  away  the  crops  and  not 
returning  any  of  the  organic  matter,  but  at  tne  same  time 
he  is  diminishing  the  original  fertility  by  washing  or 
leeching  out  the  soil,  many  of  the  soluble  substances  of 
which  are  an  important  part  of  the  plant  food.  Thus  in 
time  there  results  an  impoverishment  of  the  soil,  due  to 
this  double  action  of  taking  away  from  the  surface  and 
from  underneath  those  substances  which  should  be  care- 
fully kept  or  returned  to  the  farm. 

124 


WATER  ECONOMY 

In  some  instances,  where  there  is  an  excess  of  earthy 
salts,  grouped  under  the  general  name  of  alkali,  it  may 
be  desirable  to  apply  water  liberally  and  to  wash  out  a 
portion  of  these  salts.  The  resulting  water  can  hardly 
be  called  waste  water,  however,  as  it  has  performed  a 
useful  function.  The  waste  water  which  is  of  especial 
concern  to  the  canal  manager  is  that  portion  which 
flows  away  from  the  irrigated  land,  usually  in  small 
streams  and  at  points  below  where  it  can  be  recovered  or 
again  used  within  the  limits  of  the  project. 

The  determination  as  to  the  quantity  of  water  which 
should  be  applied  to  the  field  and  the  reduction  of  waste 
must  rest  largely  on  full  information  obtained  by  com- 
plete observations  of  the  soil  rather  than  by  the  super- 
ficial methods  of  judging  from  the  general  appearance 
of  the  crops  themselves.  In  this  respect,  the  irrigators 
who  have  had  experience  in  other  localities  and  under 
different  conditions  of  soil  and  climate  may  be  at  a  dis- 
tinct disadvantage,  as  they  are  apt  to  base  their  judg- 
ment upon  the  general  appearances  without  inquiring 
carefully  into  actual  conditions.  For  example,  one 
irrigatdr  held  up  to  ridicule  the  project  manager  who 
insisted  on  going  to  the  field  with  a  spade  and  digging 
holes  in  the  ground  to  learn  for  himself  as  to  the  effect 
of  the  water  on  that  particular  soil.  The  irrigator 
claimed  that  he  could  judge  from  a  distance  of  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  whether  the  crops  needed  water,  or  not.  In 
this  case,  he  insisted  that  water  should  be  applied  because 
of  the  appearance  of  the  field,  but  the  project  manager 
on  digging  into  the  soil  was  quickly  able  to  show  him  that 
the  subsoil  was  heavily  saturated  and  that  the  crops 
were  not  suffering  for  lack  of  water  on  the  surface,  but 
rather  from  oversaturation  of  a  soil  whose  texture  was 

125 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

entirely  different  from  that  with  which  the  irrigator 
had  before  been  acquainted. 

Penetration  by  Water. — One  of  the  most  important 
matters  for  the  irrigation  manager  and  farmer  to  know 
is  that  of  the  depth  of  penetration  of  water  in  the  soil. 
It  is  shown  by  Professor  Hilgard  that  it  is  easy  to  ascer- 
tain this  by  taking  a  small  iron  rod  of  square  section 
provided  with  a  cross-handle,  placing  it  on  top  of  the 
soil,  and  twisting  it  slowly  from  side  to  side.  The  rod 
will  descend  through  the  saturated  or  wet  earth  and 
there  is  perceptible  a  decided  resistance  when  the  dry 
earth  is  encountered. 

It  occasionally  happens  that  because  of  lack  of  knowl- 
edge of  the  depth  of  penetration  an  insufficient  time  is 
allowed  for  the  water  to  soak  into  the  soil,  or  not  water 
enough  is  used;  so  that,  for  instance,  trees  especially  may 
lack  proper  development,  although  the  farmer  believes 
that  he  has  given  them  a  thorough  irrigation  and  has 
paid  for  enough  water  to  do  so. 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  to  know  where  the  water  goes 
which  is  applied  to  the  surface  of  the  soil,  and  this  knowl- 
edge should  be  part  of  the  common  education  of  the 
farmer  and  irrigation  manager.  Instead  of  obstinately 
persisting  in  following  along  a  certain  line  or  imitating 
his  neighbors  whose  soil  may  be  different,  each  farmer 
should  carry  on  for  himself  these  relatively  simple  inves- 
tigations and  know  what  is  really  taking  place. 

For  example,  on  one  orange  grove  it  was  found  that 
the  water  was  penetrating  to  a  depth  of  only  eighteen 
inches,  because  of  shallow  tillage,  and  in  another,  very 
similar  in  appearance  but  well  cultivated,  the  water  was 
reaching  to  a  depth  of  nine  feet.  The  roots  being 
limited  in  their  development  largely  by  the  amount  of 

126 


WATER  ECONOMY 

moisture  it  is  obviously  of  first  importance  to  know  the 
true  conditions. 

Decrease  in  Fertility. — One  of  the  sources  of  deepest 
concern  to  the  irrigation  manager  is  the  marked  tend- 
ency of  the  irrigated  lands  to  decrease  in  productive 
capacity.  He  cannot  help  seeing  that  many  of  the 
cultivated  fields  each  year  are  yielding  less  and  less. 
There  are  sufficient  examples  to  show  that  with  care  it 
is  possible  to  keep  the  yields  above  the  average.  These 
instances  of  success  emphasize  the  fact  that  the  majority 
of  the  irrigators  are  not  utilizing  the  knowledge  and 
experience  of  others  to  prevent  waste  and  to  increase 
the  soil  fertility.  The  decrease  of  productivity  is  due 
to  several  causes,  the  most  notable  of  which  are  as 
follows: 

1.  Washing  out  the  plant  food  by  excessive    use    of 
water. 

2.  Swamping  of  lowlands,  due  largely  to  lack  of  care 
in  applying  water  or  to  defective  drainage. 

3.  Introduction  of  disease  or  conditions  which  are  not 
as  yet  understood  by  the  agricultural  experts. 

4.  Neglect  to  apply  fertilizers  under  the  assumption 
that  the  irrigation  water  is  sufficient. 

Wasting  Plant  Food. — The  evils  of  excessive  use  of 
water  in  irrigation  are  shown  in  the  leeching  out  of 
soluble  constituents  of  the  soil  needed  by  the  crops. 
The  soil  of  the  arid  regions  in  its  original  condition  when 
properly  irrigated  will  frequently  yield  largely,  especially 
of  the  cereals,  but  in  the  case  of  somewhat  open,  porous 
soil,  continued  excessive  application  of  water  results  in 
the  carrying  away  beyond  the  reach  of  the  plant  roots 
many  of  the  mineral  or  organic  salts,  leaving  relatively 
little  but  barren  sand. 

127 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

It  is  evident  that  the  material  upon  which  every  plant 
builds  its  life  must  be  soluble  in  order  that  it  may  pass 
into  the  tissues  of  the  plant,  and  while  the  action  of  plant 
life  increases  the  solubility  of  some  substances  yet  the 
same  conditions  wly'ch  make  the  plant  food  available 
to  the  roots,  make  it  easier  to  be  carried  away  by  an 
excess  of  water  applied  to  the  surface  and  escaping 
downward. 

Swamping. — The  excess  amount  of  water  applied  in  irri- 
gation, loaded  frequently  with  matter  valuable  for  plant 
life,  works  its  way  through  the  more  pervious  strata 
or  along  the  upper  surface  of  less  permeable  layers  beneath 
the  surface  of  the  fields.  Drawn  downward  by  gravity, 
it  thus  percolates  vertically  or  is  forced  along  the 
slightly  inclined  slopes  of  subsurface  rocks  until  it 
reaches  a  natural  drainage  line,  or  appears  upon  the  sur- 
face of  low-lying  lands.  These  lands  receiving  the  waters 
by  percolation  are  for  the  time  being  enriched;  one  or 
two  large  crops  may  be  produced  without  the  applica- 
tion of  water  to  the  surface.  This  increase  in  pro- 
ductivity is  a  danger  signal  as  it  is  quickly  followed  by 
decline  in  plant  growth,  due  to  excessive  amount  of 
water  which  begins  to  reach  the  lowlands.  Soon  there 
is  the  appearance  of  wet  spots  on  the  surface  or  of  bare 
patches  of  white  or  black  alkali.  These  rapidly  increase 
in  size  until  what  was  formerly  one  of  the  most  produc- 
tive farms  of  the  valley  has  become  a  swamp  or  an 
alkali  flat. 

In  this  way,  a  group  of  farms  may  be  ruined  through 
no  fault  of  the  owners,  but  because  of  carelessness  of 
the  neighbors  on  the  higher  lands,  perhaps  a  mile  or 
even  two  or  three  miles  away.  There  appears  to  be 
no  redress  nor  method  of  protection,  excepting  by  the 

128 


WATER  ECONOMY 

united  efforts  of  all  intelligent  irrigators,  first,  in  bring- 
ing about  a  state  of  public  opinion  such  as  will  force 
a  more  economical  use  of  water,  and  second,  in  the 
formation  of  drainage  districts  or  organizations  to  build 
intercepting  and  other  drains  to  relieve  the  situation. 

Obscure  Diseases. — As  a  result  of  an  excessive  amount 
of  water  and  of  the  accompanying  matter  in  solution 
which  reaches  lower  lying  lands,  there  may  be  for  a 
time  an  increase  in  crop  yield,  followed  by  very  puzzling 
conditions:  the  plants  appear  to  be  sick;  there  is  nothing 
definite  the  matter,  and  experts  vary  in  their  judgment 
as  to  what  is  at  fault.  Insect  pests  increase  or  fungus 
diseases  appear  to  prevail,  yet  all  of  the  conditions 
cannot  be  directly  attributable  to  these,  as  they  appear 
to  be  a  result,  rather  than  a  cause,  of  the  general 
depression  in  plant  vigor. 

This  condition  has  long  been  recognized.  For  example, 
in  Egypt,  it  is  stated: 

Some  years  ago  the  government  was  inspired  to  increase 
the  productivity  of  the  soil  in  the  Nile  Valley  by  erecting 
an  immense  dam  across  the  river  at  Assouan  for  the  purpose 
of  providing  a  more  trustworthy  irrigation.  For  ages  past 
it  has  been  necessary  to  depend  upon  the  annual  rise  of  the 
river  to  saturate  the  soil  sufficiently  for  the  production  of 
crops.  The  great  dam  has  unquestionably  yielded  enough 
moisture  for  all  purposes,  but  for  some  reason  which  has  been 
greatly  worrying  the  authorities  'the  cotton  production  which 
is  one  of  the  most  important  of  Egyptian  assets,  has  deteri- 
orated. Indeed,  as  the  dam  has  been  raised  and  the  amount 
of  water  impounded  and  distributed  has  increased  this  deteri- 
oration has  progressed,  the  value  of  the  production  diminishing 
with  the  expansion  of  the  area.  It  was  at  one  time  thought 
that  the  deterioration  was  due  to  the  use  of  unsuitable  land 

129 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

for  cotton  raising,  but  this  was  proved  not  to  be  true  by  the 
discovery  that  the  crop  yielded  by  unquestionably  good  land 
was  steadily  growing  smaller.  Sir  William  Willcocks,  a  widely 
known  authority  on  irrigation,  has  just  offered  an  explanation, 
which  is  causing  grave  concern  in  Egypt.  The  abundance 
of  water,  he  says,  has  resulted  in  the  appearance  and  mul- 
tiplication of  a  worm  which  destroys  the  young  cotton  plant, 
possibly  identical  with  the  boll  weevil  which  has  been  such 
a  costly  nuisance  in  this  country.  In  the  Egyptian  agri- 
cultural system  the  ground  is  first  planted  to  maize,  for  the 
production  of  which  large  quantities  of  water  are  used  early 
in  the  season,  this  saturating  the  ground  beyond  the  point 
necessary  for  the  development  of  cotton.  It  furthermore 
stimulates  a  growth  of  clover  on  which  the  cotton  worms  are 
ready  for  attack.  In  the  old  days  the  hot  dry  summer  killed 
the  worm  and  the  cotton  crop  was  thus  left  to  mature  without 
molestation.  Perhaps  some  way  will  be  found  to  offset  this 
disadvantage.  The  discovery,  however,  that  Egypt  is  really 
suffering  from  a  surplus  of  water  is  an  unexpected  development. 

Another  statement  regarding  the  conditons  which 
have  prevailed  in  these  irrigated  areas  is  given  as  fol- 
lows : 

Probably  the  root  cause  of  the  disease  is  excess  of  water. 
The  irrigation  schemes  executed  by  Lord  Cromer  were  not 
altogether  well  designed,  and  the  land  is  becoming  water- 
logged. A  commission  is  investigating  the  problem  and  Lord 
Kitchener  has  taken  up  the  work  with  characteristic  ernergy. 

Neglect  of  Fertilization. — There  has  been  a  current 
fallacy  that  the  water  applied  in  irrigation  supplies  all 
of  the  fertility  necessary  for  plant  life,  as  noted  on 
page  26.  This  has  been  one  of  the  stock  arguments 
of  men  interested  in  the  promotion  of  irrigation  schemes 
as  showing  the  superiority  of  irrigation  over  ordinary 

130 


WATER  ECONOMY 

methods  of  agriculture.  While  a  good  irrigation  system 
does  have  great  advantages  and  while  the  muddy  waters 
used  in  irrigation  frequently  carry  valuable  fertilizing 
material,  yet  dependence  for  maintaining  and  increasing 
the  fertility  of  the  arid  lands  cannot  be  placed  wholly 
upon  the  irrigation  waters.  In  Egypt  itself,  where  the 
Nile  mud  had  been  typical  of  fertility,  it  has  been  found 
that  manure  or  artificial  fertilizers  should  be  used  and 
one  of  the  problems  before  the  British  engineers,  as 
above  noted,  has  been  that  of  obtaining  an  ample 
supply  of  phosphates  and  other  essentials  for  plant 
development. 

Studies  made  of  the  excessive  use  of  water,  notably 
on  sandy  soil,  emphasizes  the  fact  that  it  is  really  lack 
of  fertility  of  the  soil  which  is  commonly  responsible 
for  unsatisfactory  growth  rather  than  the  shortage  of 
water.  The  importance  of  building  up  the  soil  by  plow- 
ing under  green  fertilizers  cannot  be  too  greatly  empha- 
sized, not  only  to  secure  larger  crop  production,  but 
also  to  bring  about  greater  economy  in  the  use  of  water. 

Preparation  cf  Land. — The  most  frequent  cause  of 
waste  of  water  is  lack  of  proper  preparation  bf  the  sur- 
face. The  use  of  large  irrigation  heads  and  consequently 
quick  and  economical  watering  are  possible  only  where 
the  surface  has  been  brought  to  a  uniform  gentle  slope 
with  all  of  the  high  spots  taken  down  and  the  depressions 
filled.  Much  of  the  land  in  the  arid  region  is  left  by  nature 
in  almost  ideal  condition  with  reference  to  the  appli- 
cation of  water,  but  other  lands,  especially  the  fertile, 
overflowed  lower  bench  lands  along  some  of  the  streams, 
are  very  uneven,  due  to  the  formation  of  small  channels 
or  gullies  at  times  of  extraordinary  floods.  Other  higher- 
lying  lands  upon  which  scanty  vegetation  grows  have 

131 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

been  sculptured  by  the  wind,  which  has  left  the  surface 
in  a  wave-like  form,  the  loose  soil  being  heaped  up 
around  the  clumps  of  low  bushes. 

The  cost  of  leveling  may  range  from  two  or  three 
dollars  an  acre,  where  the  work  is  easily  performed  by 
dragging  a  heavy  iron  bar  or  rail  over  the  surface,  up 
to  as  high  as  fifty  dollars  or  more  per  acre  on  the  rich 
lowlands  where  roots  and  stumps  must  be  grubbed  out 
and  the  entire  surface  reshaped. 

It  is  evident  that  the  ordinary  pioneer  farmer  does 
not  have  sufficient  money  nor  time  to  level  up  his  entire 
farm  in  advance  of  cultivation,  especially  where  the 
surface  is  undulating.  Where  the  ground  is  not  properly 
leveled,  his  efforts  to  irrigate  the  high  spots  result  in 
drowning  out  the  crops  in  the  depressions  and  in  waste 
of  water.  This  is  not  only  injurious  to  the  farm  itself, 
but  frequently  causes  an  excessive  underground  seepage, 
raising  the  water  plane  and  destroying,  as  before  stated, 
the  agricultural  land  on  lower  ground  at  a  distance. 
(See  also  page  90.) 

On  poorly  prepared  land,  the  farmer  can  rarely  use 
more  than  one  or  two  second-feet  as  an  irrigation  head, 
whereas  on  well-leveled  ground,  with  some  crops,  he 
may  use  as  high  as  ten  second-feet  or  even  fifteen,  and 
can  finish  the  irrigation  of  a  field  in  one-fifth  or  one- 
tenth  of  the  time  otherwise  spent  in  attempting  to 
distribute  the  smaller  head. 

The  gain  in  economy  of  water  as  well  as  time  of  irri- 
gation is  proportionally  greater  than  would  appear  to 
result  from  the  sizes  of  the  irrigation  head,  that  is  to 
say,  with  two  second-feet,  more  than  five  times  as  much 
water  and  time  is  required  to  produce  satisfactory 
results  than  with  ten  second-feet. 


WATER  ECONOMY 

The  desirability  of  using  large  heads  of  water  for 
short  periods  of  time  is  beginning  to  be  better  under- 
stood. Commonly,  a  water  user  cannot  immediately 
employ  as  large  heads  as  he  might,  because  the  dis- 
tributing system  has  often  been  built  with  the  idea 
of  a  continuous  flow,  and  for  lack  of  funds  the  manager 
cannot  at  once  make  a  change,  but  must  do  this  gradually 
as  means  are  available. 

After  once  becoming  accustomed  to  larger  heads,  the 
water  users  are  usually  better  satisfied  and,  through 
rotation  of  flow  during  the  hottest  months,  the  rate  of 
use  on  some  of  the  irrigated  lands  has  been  cut  in  half 
with  corresponding  saving  of  time  and  energy  on  the 
part  of  the  irrigator.  From  measurements  made  of 
water  applied  on  sandy  soils,  it  has  been  found  that 
out  of  6.6  feet  in  depth  applied,  5.5  feet  were  lost  by 
deep  percolation.  On  other  words,  over  83  per  cent, 
of  the  water  was  lost  by  soaking  downward,  leaving 
16  per  cent,  available  for  plant  growth. 

Great  quantities  of  water  are  lost  when  irrigation  is 
prolonged  unnecessarily.  In  a  sandy  soil  it  is  probable 
that  having  water  in  a  furrow  from  half  an  hour  to  an 
hour  accomplishes  all  the  good  that  can  be  done  by 
a  single  irrigation.  Keeping  water  in  a  furrow  for 
ten  hours  or  longer,  as  is  frequently  done,  merely  means 
loss  of  that  water.  In  other  words,  nine-tenths  of 
the  water  which  has  been  applied  is  lost  and  may  become 
a  menace  to  lower-lying  fields.  The  man  who  permits 
the  stream  to  run  for  ten  hours  is  not  aware  of  the  mis- 
chief he  is  doing,  because  the  water  is  sinking  down 
out  of  sight. 

Alkali. — The  most  serious  consequences  following  the 
lack  of  water  economy  are  in  the  development  of  the 

133 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

so-called  alkali  salts  on  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Merely 
water-logging  or  swamping  of  the  land  is  comparatively 
harmless  as  the  excess  of  water  may  be  removed  or  its 
occurrence  prevented.  Unfortunately,  however,  this  ex- 
cess of  water  is  accompanied  by  an  accumulation  of 
soluble  mineral  matter  at  or  near  the  surface  of  the  ground 
where  it  is  most  destructive  to  plant  growth. 

Most  agricultural  soils  have  resulted  from  the  decay 
of  more  solid  rocks.  In  this  process  of  decay  certain 
portions  of  the  rock  have  been  set  free  as  salts,  such  as 
the  common  table  salt,  or  chloride  of  sodium,  which  is 
found  almost  everywhere  in  small  quantities.  There  are 
also  found  other  common  soluble  minerals,  such  as  gypsum 
or  sulphate  of  lime.  Various  carbonates  of  lime  and 
magnesium  are  also  formed  through  rock  disintegration. 
In  the  soils  of  the  humid  region  the  abundant  rainfall 
tends  to  wash  these  away  from  the  surface  as  rapidly  as 
they  are  set  free  or  are  exposed,  but  in  the  soils  of  the 
arid  region  there  is  not  sufficient  annual  rainfall  to  leech 
these  out,  and  thus  in  its  natural  condition  much  of  the 
ground  of  the  arid  West  is  impregnated  with  soluble  sub- 
stances. 

These  substances  are  fairly  well  distributed  under  nat- 
ural conditions,  so  that  samples  taken  from  the  surface 
downward  show  about  the  same  amount  for  each  foot  in 
depth.  This  comparatively  uniform  distribution,  how- 
ever, is  quickly  modified  by  the  artificial  application  of 
water,  which,  applied  to  the  surface,  works  its  way  down- 
ward and  dissolves  the  salts.  The  surface  again  drying, 
some  of  the  waters  charged  with  mineral  matter  in  solu- 
tion begin  to  return  by  capillary  attraction  and  are 
evaporated  from  the  surface,  leaving  the  soluble  material 
behind.  This  process  is  repeated  and  by  a  careless  use 

134 


WATER  ECONOMY 

of  excessive  amounts  of  water  it  may  result  in  a  few  years 
that  the  greater  part  of  the  soluble  minerals  are  pumped 
up  to  the  surface  by  the  water  which  has  been  evaporated 
and  there  is  formed  the  white  crust  so  familiar  to  residents 
of  arid  regions. 

This  crust  known  as  white  alkali  consists  largely  of 
sulphate  of  lime  or  gypsum.  While  destructive  to  plant 
growth  it  is  less  dangerous  than  the  so-called  "  black 
alkali  "  or  bicarbonate  of  lime  and  soda.  The  appearance 
of  either  white  or  black  alkali  is  often  an  indication  of 
bad  management  or  carelessness  somewhere  and  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  irrigation  manager  to  be  on  guard  to  pre- 
vent it. 

Wasteways. — In  the  ordinary  irrigation  system  pro- 
vision must  be  made  for  taking  care  of  some  waste  water, 
as  even  with  ordinary  care  there  will  be  some  water  lost 
from  the  fields,  especially  during  the  years  before  the 
farmers  have  these  completely  leveled  and  before  they 
learn  to  work  in  systematic  manner.  Wherever  possible 
these  waste  ditches  should  be  so  arranged  as  to  turn  the 
excess  water  back  into  the  irrigating  canals,  to  be  used 
on  lower  lands.  If  this  cannot  be  done,  connection  should 
be  made  with  natural  drainage  lines  and  these  cleaned 
out  and  straightened  to  provide  quick  delivery  to  river 
or  creek  channels. 

Efforts  have  been  made  in  some  irrigation  systems  of 
considerable  size  to  get  along  without  wasteways  and  to 
discourage  the  wasting  of  water  by  compelling  each  farmer 
to  take  care  of  any  excess  which  may  occur.  Although 
this  is  theoretically  proper,  yet  under  pioneer  conditions 
it  is  practically  impossible  to  prevent  some  waste  and  the 
efforts  to  develop  a  new  system  without  providing  waste- 
ways  has  generally  resulted  in  great  dissatisfaction.  On 

135 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

the  other  hand,  if  the  waste  ways  are  made  too  convenient 
and  prominent,  there  is  always  the  temptation  to  turn 
an  excess  into  them  instead  of  handling  the  water  more 
carefully  on  the  land. 

Drains. — A  careful  distinction  should  be  observed  be- 
tween drains  and  wasteways  for  although  the  same  con- 
duit occasionally  may  be  used  for  both,  yet  they  are  dis- 
tinct in  their  purposes.  The  wasteway  is  to  provide  for 
the  taking  away  of  temporary  excess  of  water  flowing  on 
the  surface,  while  the  drain  is  provided  for  the  purpose 
primarily  of  keeping  down  the  water  table  and  removing 
the  excess  from  beneath  the  surface. 

The  wasteway  may  be  in  operation  only  for  a  few  hours 
or  days,  carrying  away  water  which  is  not  being  care- 
fully handled  during  the  process  of  irrigation.  The  drain, 
on  the  other  hand,  usually  discharges  a  relatively  small 
steady  stream  throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  irrigation 
season,  the  water  coming  to  it  slowly  by  percolation  after 
the  fields  have  been  irrigated,  the  drain  continuing  to 
discharge  water  for  some  time  even  after  the  crops  have 
been  removed. 

Wasteways  are  usually  relatively  shallow  ditches  and, 
as  before  stated,  may  lead  into  lower-lying  irrigation 
canals  or  laterals.  Drains  may  be  open  or  covered,  and, 
depend  for  their  value  largely  on  their  depth  beneath  the 
surface.  Being  deep,  it  is  usually  necessary  to  cover 
them  over  as  otherwise  if  the  banks  are  greatly  sloped 
to  prevent  earth  falling  in,  the  width  of  the  top  of  the 
drain  is  very  great  and  requires  an  excessive  amount  of 
land. 

Drains  are  usually  excavated  to  a  depth  of  six  or 
eight  feet,  the  depth  being  determined  in  advance  by 
thorough  investigation  of  the  character  of  the  subsoil. 

136 


WATER  ECONOMY 

There  is  no  one  feature  of  irrigation  engineering  prac- 
tice which  appears  to  be  more  self-evident  or  easier 
of  solution  than  the  location  of  a  drain;  on  the  other 
hand,  there  is  probably  no  one  item  of  expense  in  which 
more  money  has  been  wasted  than  in  the  building  of 
poorly  located  drains.  The  ordinary  observer,  looking 
at  the  ground,  determines  immediately  from  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  surface  that  the  drain  should  be  put 
in  a  certain  direction,  and  public  opinion  decrees  that  this 
is  the  proper  course.  After  it  is  built,  however,  for  some 
reason  it  does  not  give  satisfactory  results;  then  inquiry 
is  made  as  to  what  is  the  reason.  It  is  found  that  the 
drain  does  not  draw  down  the  ground  water  as  antic- 
ipated and  evidently  there  are  some  underground 
conditions  which  were  not  known.  To  ascertain  these, 
it  is  necessary  to  put  down  a  series  of  test  pits  or  drill 
holes  to  obtain  samples  of  the  underlying  soil  and  to  learn 
what  are  the  true  conditions. 

The  experienced  irrigation  manager,  in  view  of  the 
condition  just  described,  studies  the  underground  con- 
ditions before  the  dram  is  built,  even  though  the  proper 
location  may  appear  to  be  self-evident.  It  may  be 
necessary  to  delay  construction  to  obtain  the  essential 
facts,  but  in  the  effective  management  of  the  project 
one  of  the  first  questions  to  be  inquired  into  is  that  of 
the  behavior  of  the  ground  water.  Small  shallow  wells 
or  pipes  driven  into  the  ground  should  be  located  at  im- 
portant points  and  observations  made  one  or  twice  a 
month  of  the  rise  of  the  ground  water,  the  results  being 
studied  in  connection  with  the  figures  showing  the  time 
and  quantity  of  water  applied  to  the  surface. 

It  will  usually  be  found  that  there  are  a  number  of 
peculiar  phenomena.  For  example,  on  the  Shoshone 

137 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

project,  Wyoming,  the  land  surface  slope  is  about  twenty 
feet  to  the  mile.  Under  the  surface  at  a  depth  of  from 
four  to  eight  feet  or  more  is  a  thick  bed  of  coarse  gravel. 
The  ordinary  observer  or  even  the  agricultural  expert 
would  say,  as  has  been  said,  that  with  this  slope  and 
underlying  conditions,  it  would  by  impossible  to  swamp 
the  land.  The  water  would  either  run  off  the  surface 
quickly  or,  getting  into  the  gravel,  work  its  way  down- 
ward to  the  deep  river  gorge.  Acting  under  this  as- 
sumption, an  excess  of  water  was  applied  and  in  the  course 
of  two  or  three  years  considerable  areas  of  land  were 
swamped.  A  study  of  the  underground  conditions 
by  means  of  numerous  small  wells  showed  that  certain 
portions  of  the  gravel  were  nearly  impervious  and  that 
drains  located  according  to  the  surface  slope  alone  did 
not  effectively  relieve  the  conditions. 

By  locating  the  drains  in  such  way  as  to  cut  through 
certain  impervious  bands  or  ridges  of  gravel,  immediate 
relief  was  had  and  the  water  plane  drawn  down.  In 
other  words,  a  knowledge  of  the  subsurface  conditions 
brought  about  a  location  of  drains  entirely  different 
from  those  which  would  have  been  dug  by  observation 
of  the  surface  conditions  only. 

It  is  usually  impossible  to  estimate  accurately  in  ad- 
vance the  outlay  which  will  be  necessary  in  any  irriga- 
tion project  in  providing  necessary  drains.  In  planning 
the  distribution  system,  wasteways  may  be  located  and 
their  probable  cost  ascertained,  but  the  matter  of  drain- 
age involves  so  many  uncertainties  that  estimates  in  the 
past  at  least  have  been  unreliable. 

Theoretically,  it  should  be  possible  to  make  a  thor- 
ough study  of  underground  conditions  by  means  of  test 
wells  or  borings  and  from  the  results  of  observations 

138 


WATER  ECONOMY 

of  these,  lay  out  a  drainage  system.  The  cost  of  this 
preliminary  examination,  and  the  delay  involved  in  mak- 
ing it,  is  such  as  to  deter  most  investors.  More  than  this, 
the  estimated  cost  of  a  complete  system  of  drainage  may 
be  so  great  as  to  prevent  the  enterprise  being  undertaken. 

The  usual  attitude  of  mind  of  the  persons  promoting 
irrigation  works  is  that  "  where  ignorance  is  bliss,  'tis 
folly  to  be  wise,"  and  that  in  any  event  the  needs  of 
drainage  will  not  be  felt  until  irrigation  is  developed  to 
a  point  where  the  land  values  will  be  sufficiently  great 
to  justify  taking  up  the  building  of  the  drains;  or,  to  put 
it  in  another  way,  the  need  of  drainage  gradually  develop- 
ing will  be  met  by  the  farmers  from  time  to  time  acting 
in  cooperation,  or  by  organization  of  drainage  districts. 

Keeping  Water  Out  of  Drains. — Because  of  the  pe- 
culiar construction  of  the  drains,  there  arises  the  neces- 
sity of  taking  especial  care  to  protect  them  from  misuse. 
The  most  serious  menaces  are:  first,  wasting  into  the 
drains  of  surface  waters,  and,  second,  excessive  seepage 
due  to  the  construction  of  portions  of  distributing  sys- 
tems or  of  waste-water  channels  too  near  drams. 

Instances  have  been  noted  where  irrigators  of  lands 
bordering  upon  drains  permitted  waste  water  from  the 
surface  of  the  land  to  flow  into  them.  Where  the  drains 
are  open  there  results  a  washing  of  the  earth  from  the 
banks  and  partial  filling  or  obstruction,  thus  reducing 
their  effectiveness.  Where  the  drains  are  closed  and 
water  is  allowed  to  accumulate  or  stand  over  the  buried 
pipes,  the  result  is  saturation  of  the  soil  above  the  pipe 
and  a  downward  flow  tending  to  carry  sand  or  fine 
material  into  the  pipes.  Instances  have  also  been  found 
where  small  laterals  have  been  constructed  on  the 
banks  of  open  drains  or  directly  over  the  top  of  a  drain 

139 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

pipe.  The  result  is  to  produce  excessive  seepage  or 
danger  of  breaks. 

The  filling  over  a  buried  drain  should  be  kept  well 
rounded  up  to  prevent  water  from  standing  or  flowing 
across  it.  No  lateral  or  waterway  should  be  placed 
less  than  thirty  feet  from  the  center  line  of  the  drain. 
If  it  is  necessary  for  these  to  cross  a  buried  dram,  this 
work  should  be  done  in  such  a  manner  as  to  reduce  the 
seepage  loss  as  much  as  possible,  notably  by  building 
tight  flumes  over  the  point  of  crossing  or  by  carefully 
puddling  the  earth  until  the  filling  over  the  drains  has 
become  thoroughly  compacted.  It  is  necessary  to  ex- 
ercise great  care  in  order  to  prevent  holes  being  opened 
through  the  loose  earth  into  the  drains. 

Pumping. — The  possibilities  of  water  economy  are 
best  illustrated  under  conditions  where  the  supply  is 
obtained  by  pumping.  Here  it  is  plainly  evident  that 
every  acre-foot  of  water  lifted  is  costing  a  certain  amount 
of  money,  in  fuel  or  in  labor  and  in  the  wear  of  machinery. 
With  a  gravity  supply,  such  as  is  provided  for  most  of 
the  irrigated  lands,  this  expenditure  is  not  so  imme- 
diately evident;  but  in  a  pump  supply  the  irrigator  is 
continually  alert  to  keep  down  this  daily  cost.  As  a 
result  he  will  manage  to  get  along  with  half  the  water 
which  he  considers  essential  under  the  gravity  system. 
Although  pumping  has  been  used,  and  will  probably 
be  used,  for  only  a  small  percentage  of  the  lands  irri- 
gated, yet  it  has  an  unusual  importance  because  it  makes 
possible  the  lesson  of  water  economy.  Pumping  is  not 
only  utilized  in  bringing  water  to  the  land,  but  also  in 
taking  the  excess  away  and  in  keeping  down  the  water 
plane  in  localities  where  drains  cannot  be  economically 
constructed. 


CHAPTER  IX 
MAINTENANCE 

THE  maintenance  of  an  irrigation  system  presents 
problems  quite  distinct  from  those  connected  with  its 
operation  or  even  with  the  original  building  of  the 
works.  Maintenance  is  essential  to  proper  operation, 
also  it  is  closely  allied  to  construction;  in  many  cases 
it  is  a  prolongation  of  the  latter  and  there  is  difficulty 
in  drawing  a  sharp  line  between  what  may  be  called  the 
original  work  and  that  added  later  during  the  gradual 
evolution  of  parts.  Some  structures  built  as  a  necessary 
part  of  maintenance  were  contemplated  from  the  beginning 
though  not  finished  at  the  time  of  the  original  work. 
For  example,  in  the  case  of  the  enlargement  and  repair 
of  a  headgate,  certain  portions  were  completed  as  part 
of  the  first  construction;  foundations  or  spaces  were 
then  left  for  additions  such  as  might  be  needed  in  the 
course  of  systematic  development  of  the  irrigated  project. 
Later  these  were  inserted  as  part  of  the  maintenance  of 
the  systems,  although  in  one  sense  they  were  in  com- 
pletion of  the  original  plans. 

It  is  necessary,  in  considering  maintenance  and  in 
classifying  expenditures,  to  draw  a  somewhat  arbitrary 
line  between  what  may  be  called  (a)  the  primary  con- 
struction and  (6)  the  secondary  additions,  the  latter 
being  essential  to  the  growth  and  development  of  the 
irrigated  lands.  The  same  difficulty  is  encountered  in 

141 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

attempting  to  make  a  fair  division  between  the  expend- 
itures for  operation  and  for  maintenance.  Although 
the  purposes  are  in  themselves  entirely  distinct,  yet  the 
work  may  be  classified  sometimes  under  one  head  or 
under  the  other,  especially  as  it  frequently  happens 
that  for  economy  the  same  body  of  men  may  be  engaged 
at  one  moment  on  the  work  of  operating  and  at  another 
time  on  that  of  maintenance. 

DEFINITIONS 

The  items  of  the  expenditure  included  under  the  head 
of  maintenance  of  an  irrigation  system,  are  those  grow- 
ing out  of  the  keeping  of  the  works  in  good  condition, 
as  distinguished  from  those  expenditures  of  time  or 
money  which  have  to  do  with  delivering  water  to  the 
land.  ^The  cost  of  cleaning  the  canals  and  repairing 
structures  is  properly  chargeable  to  maintenance,  while 
the  cost  of  turning  the  water  on  and  off  and  of  keeping 
the  record  of  the  time  and  quantity  delivered  is  properly 
chargeable  to  operation. 

The  same  man  or  gang  may  be  employed  both  on 
operation  and  on  maintenance;  that  is  to  say,  a  canal- 
rider  whose  business  it  is  primarily  to  see  to  it  that  the 
water  is  turned  into  the  laterals  and  to  the  farms  may 
spend  part  of  his  time  in  removing  weeds  or  other  ob- 
structions or  in  making  temporary  repairs.  Under  a 
careful  system  of  costkeeping  a  certain  proportion  of 
his  time  may  be  thus  charged  to  maintenance.  'Most 
maintenance  work,  however,  is  done  immediately  before 
or  after  the  irrigation  season  and  when  the  water  is  out 
of  the  canal,  so  that  it  is  often  relatively  easy  to  dis- 
tinguish between  operation  and  maintenance  by  con- 


MAINTENANCE 

sidering  the  time  of  year  in  which  the  given  expenditure 
is  incurred.! 

The  amount  of  time  and  money  which  can  be  spent 
on  maintenance  is  more  largely  governed  by  the  judg- 
ment of  the  manager  than  is  the  operating  expense, 
because  of  the  fact  that  (neglect  of  the  maintenance  is 
not  as  immediately  noticeable  as  failure  to  operate 
the  works  properlyj  If  they  are  not  operated  system- 
atically and  effectively,  there  is  immediate  complaint, 
but  the  maintenance  may  be  neglected  for  possibly  a 
year  or  more  without  immediate  or  serious  consequences. 
The  only  way  to  ascertain  whether  the  maintenance  is 
effective  is  by  frequent  inspection  or  by  taking  account 
of  stock,  as  it  would  be  termed  in  other  mercantile 
operations,  to  determine  whether  the  works  in  hand  have 
increased  or  decreased  in  value. 

lit  is  this  difficulty  of  ascertaining  whether  the  main- 
tenance is  effective  or  not  which  has  led  to  much  mis- 
apprehension as  to  the  true  cost  of  maintenance^  The 
careful  manager  will  expend  considerable  sums  of  money 
in  keeping  the  canals  clean,  the  structures  in  excellent 
condition,  and  be  prepared  to  meet  any  emergency. 
The  result,  however,  is  not  always  apparent,  because  with 
a  smoothly  working  system  there  are  no  comments  called 
for,  as  it  is  to  be  supposed  that  the  manager  would 
keep  the  system  in  good  order. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  manager  who  is  desirous  of 
making  a  record  for  economy  may  reduce  the  expenditures 
for  maintenance,  and  let  the  canals  and  distributing 
system  gradually  fill  with  silt  or  the  structures  become 
weak.  If,  in  time  of  unexpected  flood  or  cloudburst 
some  accident  occurs,  it  is  then  attributed  to  natural 
causes,  rather  than  to  neglect  of  the  details  of  main- 

143 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

tenance.  It  is  only  by  careful  study  of  the  situation  by 
competent  and  impartial  men  that  it  is  possible  to 
ascertain  from  year  to  year  whether  the  maintenance  is 
as  thorough  as  is  necessary  for  effective  results.  In 
other  words,  the  condition  of  the  entire  system  must  be 
known  at  short  intervals  in  order  to  ascertain  whether 
it  is  possible  safely  to  reduce  expenditures  for  main- 
tenance and  whether  there  has  been  true  economy  or 
merely  the  withholding  of  necessary  work  until  an 
accident  occurs. 

BETTERMENTS 

Closely  connected  with  maintenance  is  a  class  of  ex- 
penditures which  is  likely  at  all  times  to  give  rise  to  much 
discussion;  that  is  those  items  of  outlay  which  tend  not 
merely  to  maintain  the  irrigation  system  in  its  original 
condition,  but  gradually  to  improve  it.  For  example, 
when  the  system  is  first  built  under  pioneer  conditions 
it  is  usually  most  economical  to  build  many  of  the  struc- 
tures of  wood,  as  at  that  time  there  are  many  unknown 
conditions  and  freight  rates  on  cement  and  iron  are  usu- 
ally high.  Later  on,  when  the  wooden  structures  decay 
they  may  be  replaced  either  with  similar  wooden  ones 
in  which  case  the  cost  is  charged  to  maintenance,  or  with 
more  permanent  steel  or  iron  structures,  in  which  case 
the  excess  cost  over  the  wooden  replacement  may  be 
charged  to  betterments. 

In  the  same  way,  the  canal  system  as  originally  built 
may  be  constructed  of  minimum  capacity,  with  the  idea 
of  ultimately  enlarging  it  as  the  demands  for  water  in- 
crease. It  is  frequently  not  economical  to  build  a  canal 
full  size  at  first  because  for  several  years  it  is  not  called 
upon  to  carry  a  full  supply  of  water  and  with  reduced 


MAINTENANCE 

velocity  due  to  small  demands  the  canal  tends  to  be 
rapidly  filled  with  sediment,  whereas,  if  built  of  small 
size  it  can  be  more  easily  kept  clean.  If  such  a  canal 
when  being  cleaned  is  increased  in  capacity,  the  cost  of 
the  cleaning  to  the  original  size  may  be  considered  as 
maintenance  and  the  added  expenditure  to  bring  about 
increased  capacity  may  be  charged  to  betterments. 

The  distinction  between  these  two  classifications  can 
usually  be  made  only  at  the  time  when  the  results  of  the 
work  are  fresh  in  mind  and  when  it  is  possible  to  make 
a  careful  apportionment  of  items  of  expenditure  for  labor 
and  materials.  It  is  quite  important  that  some  such  dis- 
tinction be  made  in  order  that  the  owners  or  management 
of  the  canal  may  know  how  much  has  been  paid  out  for 
the  ordinary  maintenance  comparable  with  that  of  other 
systems,  as  distinguished  from  the  gradual  improvement 
of  the  property. 

REPAIRS  TO  CANALS  AND  LATERALS 

The  repairs  to  an  ordinary  canal  in  earth  consist  largely 
in  replacing  portions  of  bank  which  have  become  eroded 
or  in  removing  the  sediment  resulting  from  such  erosion. 
Here  the  problem  of  maintenance  is  similar,  on  a  small 
scale,  to  that  of  bank  protection  of  rivers.  Under  natural 
conditions  the  current  of  most  rivers  swings  from  side  to 
side,  cutting  the  bank  on  one  side  and  carrying  the 
eroded  material  for  a  short  distance,  dropping  it  to  form 
bars;  then,  gaining  force,  the  water  attacks  the  opposite 
bank.  If  the  point  of  attack  can  be  adequately  pro- 
tected so  that  the  water  cannot  remove  any  considerable 
amount  of  earth,  it  is  evident  that  there  will  be  little  to 
be  deposited  at  lower  points  along  the  stream. 

145 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

The  same  conditions  prevail  in  an  artificial  channel, 
although  to  less  degree,  if  the  slope  and  consequent 
velocity  have  been  correctly  determined  in  advance  of  con- 
struction. With  increased  demand  for  water  there  is  apt 
to  occur  at  one  place  or  another  velocities  such  that  the 
banks  are  attacked  and,  if  the  material  is  particularly 
soft,  the  erosion  takes  place  unless  protection  is  afforded 
by  the  growth  of  willows  or  similar  plants  or  an  artificial 
shield  is  made  by  placing  at  the  point  of  erosion  sagebrush 
or  branches  of  cottonwood,  willow  or  other  bushes,  hold- 
ing these  down  with  stones  or  wires. 

These  repairs  may  be  made  during  the  field  season  or 
if  relatively  small  in  importance  they  may  be  left  until 
the  water  is  out  of  the  canal  and  more  easy  access  is  had 
to  the  places  which  need  attention. 

CLEANING 

Cleaning  canals  and  laterals  may  be  distinguished  from 
repairs  as  being  necessary  usually  because  of  the  fact  that 
the  velocity  of  the  water  at  various  points  is  less  than  that 
needed  to  keep  the  muddy  water  from  depositing  its  load, 
theoretically,  a  canal  and  distributing  system  should  be 
so  planned  that  any  muddy  water  received  at  the  head 
is  carried  along  at  a  certain  velocity  until  it  is  delivered 
to  the  fields  of  the  farmers.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however, 
it  is  rarely  possible  to  maintain  this  velocity  and  at  vari- 
ous gates  or  checks  the  water  becomes  still  and  more  or 
less  sediment  is  deposited. 

In  the  case  of  canals  taking  water  from  rivers  which 
during  high  floods  carry  excessive  amounts  of  sediment 
in  suspension,  it  is  impossible  to  maintain  a  velocity  suf- 
ficient to  keep  this  sediment  from  being  deposited,  such, 

146 


MAINTENANCE 

for  example,  as  in  the  case  of  canals  from  the  Rio  Grande 
or  Colorado  rivers.  The  fall  of  the  country  does  not 
enable  canals  to  be  built  on  a  grade  steep  enough  to  pre- 
vent sediment  being  deposited  from  flood  waters.  If  such 
grade  is  possible,  excessive  erosion  would  result  at  other 
times.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  provide  as  far  as 
practicable  certain  sand  traps  or  sluices  to  take  as  much 
as  possible  of  the  sediment  out  of  the  water  near  the  head 
of  the  canal  and  systematically  clean  out  the  entire 
system  once  or  twice  a  year,  or  even  oftener,  as  the  mud 
accumulates. 

Employing  Farmers. — In  small  privately  owned  systems 
the  individual  landowners  combine  to  do  this  cleaning  or 
divide  it  among  themselves,  each  man  being  responsible 
for  a  certain  portion  of  the  system.  On  larger  canals 
efforts  have  been  made  in  a  similar  way  to  have  the 
farmers  living  under  the  canal  do  this  cleaning  by  contract. 
As  a  rule,  however,  this  has  not  been  wholly  successful 
because  it  is  frequently  necessary  to  have  cleaning  done 
at  the  time  when  the  farmer  should  be  occupied  at  home. 
It  is  also  extremely  difficult  to  make  a  contract  such  as 
to  be  enforceable  against  the  individual  who  does  this 
cleaning  incompletely  or  poorly,  as  the  cost  of  inspecting 
and  measuring  up  the  work  to  prove  lack  of  thoroughness 
is  a  notable  proportion  of  the  cost  of  proper  cleaning. 
When,  therefore,  the  individual  interest  of  the  farmer  is 
not  sufficiently  great  to  lead  him  to  do  a  thorough  piece 
of  work,  it  is  usually  impossible  to  let  contracts  to  the 
farmers  with  any  considerable  degree  of  success. 

Efforts  should  be  made,  however,  by  managers  to  fur- 
nish employment  in  cleaning  and  maintenance  work  to  the 
farmers  or  residents  within  the  area  covered  by  the  proj- 
ect. Although  experience  has  shown  as  above  stated  that 

147 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

it  is  usually  quite  difficult  to  secure  the  labor  of  farmers  in 
the  critical  times  when  repairs  are  needed,  yet  a  better 
spirit  is  engendered  if  it  is  understood  that  preference 
will  be  given  to  farmers  in  such  employment.  It  is  essen- 
tial, however,  to  have  a  small  gang  of  men  regularly 
hired  and  to  increase  their  numbers  as  necessity  arises 
by  employing  the  farmers  by  the  day. 

It  has  been  asserted  by  some  canal  managers  that  in 
this  heavy  manual  work  of  cleaning  ditches,  the  labor  of 
the  average  farmer  is  not  as  efficient  as  that  of  the  ordi- 
nary day  laborer,  as  the  farmer  is  not  accustomed  to  work 
in  gangs  or  consecutively  at  such  heavy  work.  It  has 
been  pointed  out  in  the  publications  of  the  Department 
of  Agriculture  that  although  farm  work  is  usually  hard 
and  the  hours  are  considered  long,  yet  as  a  matter  of 
observation  it  appears  that  the  average  farmer  does  not 
put  in  eight  full  hours  of  effective  work  and  that  the 
majority  are  not  accustomed  to  a  daily  routine  of  sus- 
tained physical  effort  such  as  is  required  in  cleaning  the 
canals.  In  the  old  days  of  pioneering,  all  of  this  work  as 
well  as  that  of  building  the  irrigation  works  was  per- 
formed by  the  farmers  themselves,  but  it  is  generally 
rcognized  that  these  men,  driven  by  necessity  and 
selected  by  their  ability  to  endure  hardships,  were  above 
the  average  of  present  settlers  as  far  at  least  as  physi- 
cal strength  is  concerned. 

On  the  newer  projects  where  a  miscellaneous  popula- 
tion has  flocked  in  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  there  are 
apt  to  be  many  disappointments  to  the  manager  in 
securing  labor  for  such  work  as  cleaning.  The  men  who 
are  competent  are  usually  too  busy  on  their  own  farms, 
and  the  others  who  are  in  evidence  at  the  corner  grocery 
or  who  have  apparently  little  to  do,  cannot  readily  be 

148 


MAINTENANCE 

induced  to  take  up  the  necessary  work,  although  their 
families  need  the  wages.  Thus  the  condition  is  not 
unusual  where  it  is  necessary  to  bring  in  labor  from 
outside  to  perform  in  an  efficient  and  economical  manner 
the  work  which  theoretically  might  be  done  by  residents 
of  the  community. 

In  the  same  way  that  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  small 
body  of  laborers  to  be  depended  upon  in  times  of  emer- 
gency, so  it  is  often  necessary  to  own  and  maintain  enough 
horses  to  have  at  all  times  a  small  outfit  to  insure  that 
the  needed  work  is  performed.  This  expense  may  at 
first  appear  doubtful  because  of  the  fact  that  the  horses 
are  needed  perhaps  only  three  months  out  of  the  year, 
but  these  are  the  months  when  the  farmers  cannot 
spare  their  teams. 

Whenever  conditions  appear  to  be  such  that  good 
results  can  be  obtained  by  making  contracts  for  clean- 
ing out  a  canal  at  a  fixed  rate  or  unit  price,  there  may  be 
economy  in  so  doing.  Payment  should  be  made  after 
inspection  of  the  work  and  acceptance  when  in  full 
accord  with  the  specifications.  A  small  bond  for  faith- 
ful performance  of  the  work  should  be  required,  and  a 
time  limit  set  for  completion  with  forfeiture  of  so  much 
per  day  for  failure  to  complete.  Without  such  bond 
and  forfeiture,  the  average  man  is  apt  to  put  off  the  work 
and  finally  seek  to  excuse  himself  if  the  weather  is  not 
propitious  or  other  conditions  turn  out  to  be  not  as  favor- 
able as  he  anticipated. 

REPAIRS  OF  STRUCTURE 

As  distinguished  from  the  relatively  simple  but  labor- 
ious details  of  cleaning  canals  and  repairing  earthwork, 

149 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

the  maintenance  of  structures  requires  the  employment 
of  a  certain  degree  of  engineering  and  mechanical  skill. 
Many  of  the  earlier  and  smaller  structures  on  most  dis- 
tributing systems  were  built  of  wood  in  order  to  save 
expense,  as  at  the  time  of  building  the  transportation 
facilities  were  not  perfected;  also  for  some  years  after 
initiating  the  work  the  structures  are  not  needed  of 
full  size.  Thus  it  was  frequently  a  matter  of  economy 
to  build  them  smaller  than  would  be  ultimately  needed, 
with  the  intent  of  renewing  or  enlarging  them  when 
the  time  arrived  that  the  irrigated  lands  were  more  largely 
utilized,  as  by  that  time  the  wood  will  probably  have 
become  decayed. 

The  replacement  of  the  wooden  structures  by  con- 
crete and  steel  may  be  carried  on  systematically  as  part 
of  the  necessary  repairs  and  the  extra  cost  of  enlargement 
and  of  substitution  of  more  permanent  material  may  be 
considered  as  betterment  of  the  system.  (See  page  144.) 

At  the  time  of  renewal  many  questions  which  were  in 
doubt  at  the  time  of  the  original  building  of  the  works 
have  become  more  nearly  settled,  such,  for  example, 
as  the  amount  of  water  required  for  the  land  and  the  con- 
sequent capacity  of  the  structures.  When  first  planned 
it  was  necessary  to  assume  a  certain  duty  of  water  but 
after  use  for  about  five  or  ten  years  some  of  the  lands 
may  have  become  saturated  to  a  point  where  far  less 
water  is  needed  than  was  at  first  anticipated,  and  it  is 
found  not  necessary  to  build  the  structures  as  large  as 
originally  assumed.  On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be 
found  desirable  to  extend  certain  portions  of  the  system 
to  take  in  other  lands  and  thus  the  structures  must  be 
increased  in  size.  In  short,  the  repairs  which  must 
be  made  from  time  to  time  are  based  upon  a  revision  of 

150 


WOODEX  HEADGATE  OF  LATERAL  WITH  BRUSH  BANK  PROTECTION. 
This  prevents  erosion  and  silting  of  channel  at  down  points. 


BETTERMENT  OF  MAIN  CANAL. 

Enlarging  by  dragline  while  canal  is  in  operation,  in  Salt  River 
Valley,  Arizona. 


MAINTENANCE 

the  early  plans  and  better  knowledge  of  the  conditions 
to  be  met. 

PROTECTION  OF  SANDY  BANKS 

A  large  item  of  expense  in  some  of  the  main-line  canals 
is  that  arising  from  the  sandy  nature  of  the  soil  and 
the  ease  with  which  it  is  eroded.  The  wind  on  the  sur- 
face of  a  broad  canal  creates  waves  of  considerable 
size  and  on  long  stretches  exposed  to  the  sweep  of  the 
wind,  the  wave  action  is  serious.  Constant  vigilance 
is  required  in  watching  for  wave-cutting,  especially  on 
the  outer  bank  of  the  canal,  and  protection  must  be 
afforded  temporarily  by  sand  bags  and  more  permanently 
by  brush  and  stone. 

One  of  the  problems  of  the  manager  is  to  procure  at 
reasonable  expense  suitable  material  for  protecting  these 
sandy  banks.  Stone  is  usually  absent  from  the  neigh- 
borhood and  the  cost  of  bringing  it  is  prohibitive.  Wil- 
lows, cottonwood  and  pine  branches  and  sagebrush  are 
usually  the  most  available  materials.  The  branches  are 
laid  where  the  waves  are  cutting  the  sand  with  the  butts 
placed  downstream  and  the  mat  thus  formed  is  held 
in  place  preferably  by  barbed  wire  fastened  to  stakes 
driven  into  the  bank.  (See  illustration.) 

A  good  example  of  successfully  overcoming  unfavor- 
able natural  conditions  is  that  of  a  large  canal  taking 
water  from  the  North  Platte  River  in  northwestern 
Nebraska,  and  which  has  been  built  for  many  miles 
on  sandy  hillsides.  The  maintenance  of  this  canal 
brought  with  it  many  difficult  problems,  successfully 
overcome  by  the  energy  and  devotion  of  the  manager, 
Andrew  Weiss.  Quoting  freely  from  his  description, 

151 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

it  may  be  stated  that  the  protection  against  wind  erosion 
was  one  of  the  most  serious  items  of  expense  of  main- 
tenance of  fifty  miles  of  the  main  canal.  It  was  not 
uncommon  for  an  unprotected  portion  of  the  canal  bank 
with  a  twelve-foot  crown  to  be  lowered  three  feet  in 
vertical  height  within  a  period  of  six  months  if  left  un- 
protected against  wind  and  the  range  stock. 

Practically  every  means  of  canal  bank  protection 
proves  a  failure  if  range  cattle  are  allowed  to  roam 
freely  upon  these  banks.  Not  only  do  they  destroy 
what  little  protective  vegetation  may  grow,  but  they 
also  loosen  the  banks  by  trampling  so  that  the  wind 
action  will  immediately  remove  the  loosened  portion  of 
the  soil,  thereby  causing  rapid  destruction  of  the  bank. 
To  keep  out  the  cattle  it  was  necessary  to  fence  a  tract 
about  five  hundred  feet  on  each  side  of  the  center  line 
of  the  canal.  Prior  to  the  building  of  this  fence  the 
adjoining  sand  drifts  would  blow  into  the  canal  during 
every  winter  and  spring,  so  that  much  cleaning  was  neces- 
sary. Since  the  fence  has  been  built  for  four  years 
the  sand  hills  within  have  become  covered  with  sand 
grass  and  other  protective  vegetation  and  the  drifting 
into  the  canal  has  entirely  ceased.  This  is  a  most  strik- 
ing illustration  of  what  fencing  does  in  such  places. 
While  outside  of  this  fence  the  ground  is  covered  with 
barren,  glistening  sand  drifts,  the  ground  within  the 
inclosure  is  covered  with  grass  and  the  canal  is  effect- 
ively protected. 

Since  1909  a  total  of  53  miles  of  4-strand  wire  fence 
has  been  built,  which  together  with  private  fences  along 
the  right  of  way,  incloses  all  those  portions  of  the  main 
canal  right  of  way  for  which  protection  is  at  all  essential. 
The  cost  of  this  fencing  was  $75  per  mile  for  material 

152 


MAINTENANCE 

and  $50  for  labor,  or  a  total  of  $125  per  mile.  While 
fencing  is  of  prime  necessity  in  order  to  make  any 
scheme  of  protection  effective,  there  are  still  many 
banks  which  are  so  loose  that  vegetation  will  not  take 
hold  unless  additional  protection  is  provided  by  per- 
sistent effort. 

In  October,  1909,  12,000  linear  feet  of  newly  repaired 
bank  was  covered  with  a  light  coat  of  stable  manure 
at  a  cost  of  $180.  This  was  in  fair  condition  on  March 
1, 1910.  By  August,  1910,  nearly  all  of  it  had  disappeared 
because  of  the  high  winds  and  a  few  head  of  range  stock 
which  found  access  to  this  bank.  Manure  covering  was 
shown  to  be  a  failure  except  as  a  temporary  means  of 
protection  and  then  only  if  stock  could  be  kept  entirely 
off  the  bank.  In  any  case  it  requires  frequent  patching 
and  renewal,  because  the  wind  will  soon  cut  holes  through 
it  and  begin  to  undermine  the  cover  and  gradually 
carry  it  off.  Straw  covering  has  been  tried  with  similar 
results.  To  be  of  use,  it  must  be  spaded  or  disked 
into  the  ground  or  weighted  down  with  earth;  with 
these  precautions  it  forms  a  temporary  protection. 

The  best  method,  but  also  the  most  expensive,  has 
been  to  put  gravel  on  the  top  of  the  banks  and  on  the 
outside  to  a  depth  of  from  3  to  4  inches.  About  44,800 
linear  feet,  or  8J  miles  of  bank,  has  been  protected  in 
this  way  since  May  1,  1909.  This  required  a  total  of 
11,800  cubic  yards  of  gravel  at  a  total  cost  of  $9,500, 
or  a  unit  cost  of  21  cents  per  linear  foot,  or  81  cents 
per  cubic  yard.  Gravel  has  proven  to  be  the  most 
permanent  protective  coating  to  the  banks,  and  is  used 
whenever  it  can  be  obtained  within  a  distance  of  1J 
miles. 

Brush  has  been  used  to  cover  the  outer  slope  of  the 

153 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

banks  in  some  places,  where  gravel  or  other  protective 
material  could  not  be  obtained  at  a  reasonable  cost. 
About  one-half  mile  of  bank  has  been  covered  in  this 
way  at  a  cost  of  about  20  cents  per  linear  foot.  This 
has  been  quite  satisfactory  both  for  holding  the  bank 
and  for  catching  drifting  sand,  but  it  is  not  safe  on 
account  of  danger  from  fires. 

Russian  thistle  (or  tumble  weeds)  have  been  used 
successfully  in  covering  the  banks  to  prevent  wind  ero- 
sion. Two  methods  have  been  used  in  putting  on 
a  weed  covering — one  is  to  hold  the  weeds  down  with 
woven  wire,  and  the  other  is  to  weight  them  down  by 
throwing  some  earth  on  top  of  them. 

In  the  former  case  a  single  or  double  width  of  hog 
wire  (48-inch  wire  rolls)  have  been  stretched  over  the 
outside  slope  of  the  bank,  staked  to  the  ground  and 
thistles  filled  in  underneath.  This  has  proven  satis- 
factory, not  only  in  stopping  erosion  and  promoting 
vegetation,  but  also  in  strengthening  the  bank  by  catch- 
ing drifting  sand.  It  has  also  another  advantage  in 
that  it  can  be  put  on  banks  too  narrow,  too  steep  or 
too  ragged  for  any  other  means  of  protection.  Approx- 
imately 5  miles  of  bank  have  been  covered  in  this  way 
at  a  cost  of  11  cents  per  linear  foot,  4  cents  for  wire  and 
7  cents  for  labor.  As  the  average  width  is  9  feet,  the 
cost  per  square  yard  is  also  the  same. 

The  latter  method  (weeds  without  wire)  is  used  where 
the  banks  are  in  reasonably  good  condition  or  where  they 
have  been  recently  repaired.  Where  the  slopes  are 
flat  the  weeds  are  generally  plowed  in.  This  is  done 
by  commencing  with  a  plow  furrow  near  the  bottom  of 
the  slope,  filling  it  with  weeds,  plowing  a  second  furrow 
about  fifteen  inches  higher  up,  and  turning  it  down  over 

154 


MAINTENANCE 


the  weeds  below  and  covering  them  one-half  up;  and 
in  this  work  continuing  on  up  the  slope.  On  steeper 
slopes  or  in  small  patches,  the  weeds  are  usually  placed 
and  a  shovelful  or  two  of  earth  thrown  on  each  weed 
as  the  work  is  carried  up  the  slope  is  generally  sufficient 
to  hold  them  down.  This  method  has  proven  satisfactory 
in  holding  the  bank  and  also  in  getting  the  banks  matted 
over  with  a  growth  of  new  weeds.  Approximately  60,000 
square  yards  of  bank  surface  have  been  protected  in 
this  manner  at  a  total  cost  of  $3,700,  or  6.1  cents  per 
square  yard. 

During   October,    1912,    experiments   were   made   on 
coating  a  sandy  portion  of  the  canal  bank  as  follows: 


Kind. 

Area  Treated 
Square  Yards. 

Cost—  Total. 

Per  Square 
Yard. 

Cement  coating 

144 

14  14 

098 

Calcium  chloride  (500  Ibs.)  .  . 
Crude  oil 

180 
430 

20.43 
41  14 

.114 
096 

Sugar  syrup  (5  bbls.)  
Coal  tar 

435 
300 

34.42 
20  36 

.079 
068 

Of  the  above  the  crude  oil  afforded  the  best  means  of 
protection;  the  calcium  chloride  proved  worthless;  the 
sugar  syrup  is  of  little  value ^  because  it  dissolves  in  the 
rains.  The  cement  coating  breaks  up  and  the  sand 
begins  to  blow  from  between  and  underneath;  and  the 
coal  tar,  which  is  the  most  effective  next  to  the  crude 
oil,  was  impracticable  of  application,  because  of  the 
very  limited  supply  obtainable.  Furthermore,  the  coal 
tar  had  a  tendency  to  run  in  the  hot  summer  weather, 
and  afterwards  it  scaled  off.  On  account  of  the  pre- 
valence of  Russian  thistles  in  this  section,  which  pile 
up  in  the  canal  during  the  fall  and  winter  months  when 

155 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

the  canal  is  not  in  use,  these  were  found  to  be  the  most 
useful  means  of  any  to  protect  the  banks. 

Slides. — Wherever  a  canal  is  built  in  earth  along  a 
hillside,  there  is  necessarily  introduced  a  change  in 
natural  conditions,  and  time  is  required  to  bring  about 
a  relatively  stable  adjustment.  The  original  slope  has 
been  the  result  of  centuries  of  carving  by  the  wind  and 
rain  and  of  adjustment  of  load.  It  may  be  on  the 
verge  of  unstable  equilibrium,  just  ready  to  slip,  lying 
at  what  is  sometimes  called  the  angle  of  repose.  The 
throwing  of  an  additional  load  of  earth  on  one  side  or 
another  may  bring  about  such  a  disturbance  as  to  start 
the  earth  sliding  either  gradually  or  rapidly.  Even  dur- 
ing construction  there  may  be  noticed  a  settlement 
along  the  hillside. 

The  greatest  factor  in  disturbing  natural  conditions 
is  that  of  the  introduction  of  water,  which,  saturating 
the  earth,  not  only  shifts  and  increases  the  weight  on 
the  hill  slopes,  but  in  a  way  lubricates  the  earth  and 
facilitates  the  slipping  of  one  layer  upon  another.  The 
slides  may  be  into  the  canal  from  the  steep  slopes  above 
or  more  generally  away  from  the  canal,  the  lower 
saturated  bank  sinking  and  permitting  the  water  in  the 
canal  to  escape. 

The  slides  from  above  into  an  irrigation  canal  are 
similar  in  many  ways  to  those  on  a  large  scale  on  the 
Panama  Canal,  and  arise  from  the  same  varieties  of  causes. 
Usually  they  are  the  result  of  removing  the  support  from 
the  lower  side  of  the  slope  and  of  weakening  the  adhesion 
of  the  upper  layers  of  the  slope  by  the  introduction  of 
water,  which  softens  the  supporting  material.  There 
are  certain  fine  clays  which  receive  and  transmit  water 
slowly  and  which,  when  thoroughly  wet,  will  flow  even  on 

156 


MAINTENANCE 

gentle  declivities.  A  canal  cutting  through  these  clay 
beds  and  bringing  water  to  their  lower  edges  will  almost 
invariably  be  obstructed  in  time  by  sloughing  in  of  the 
clay  beds  which  will  not  cease  moving  until  the  upper 
slope  is  perhaps  as  flat  as  one  foot  vertical  to  twenty 
horizontal.  Beds  of  sand  and  gravel  or  of  surface  debris 
gradually  work  downward  into  the  canal,  due  to  the 
lack  of  cohesion  of  the  particles,  the  movement  contin- 
uing until  the  surface  assumes  a  slope  of  one  foot  ver- 
tical to  four  or  five  horizontal. 

The  injury  and  resulting  expenses  from  the  sliding 
of  material  into  a  canal  are  relatively  small  compared 
to  those  where  the  lower  bank  tends  to  slip  outward. 
In  the  first  case,  the  flow  of  water  can  be  maintained 
by  frequent  cleaning  out  of  the  material  which  falls 
in,  but  in  the  latter  case  the  whole  system  is  jeopardized, 
and  the  water  in  the  canal  which  is  needed  for  the  irri- 
gation of  hundreds  or  thousands  of  acres  of  land  is 
diverted  to  the  destruction  of  lands  and  homes. 

Where  the  lower  banks  are  unstable  and  show  signs 
of  slipping,  it  is  necessary  to  take  every  possible  pre- 
caution and  to  maintain  daily,  if  not  hourly,  watch  for 
any  signs  of  weakness — especially  during  the  first  few 
months  or  seasons  after  the  canal  has  been  put  into  use. 
It  is  assumed  that  in  the  construction  of  the  lower  banks 
great  care  has  been  taken  to  avoid  slides  by  keeping 
the  canal  prism  well  in  the  natural  ground  and  by  com- 
pacting the  material  to  be  deposited  upon  the  lower 
bank.  The  chief  danger,  however,  lies  usually  in  the 
fact  that  the  original  undisturbed  soil  may  have  been 
in  a  condition  where  it  was  pervious  to  water  and  nearly 
ready  to  slip.  Under  such  conditions  the  additional 
weight  of  the  excavated  material  deposited  on  the  lower 

157 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

bank,  and  the  softening  of  the  lower  layers  by  percolat- 
ing water,  renders  the  whole  area  unstable.  It  is  only 
by  carefully  admitting  water  to  the  canal  and  watching 
the  conditions,  that  it  is  possible  to  determine  whether 
additional  work  must  be  undertaken  to  prevent  slides  or 
whether  by  careful  handling  the  banks  will  gradually 
settle  into  a  permanently  safe  condition. 

The  prevention  of  slides  usually  calls  into  play  all  of 
the  ingenuity  and  experience  of  the  irrigation  manager. 
A  method  adapted  to  one  kind  of  ground  may  not  be 
advisable  in  another.  Usually  the  first  step  is  to  attempt 
to  drain  the  lower  part  of  the  slope  where  conditions 
appear  to  be  bad  and  put  a  blanket  of  gravel  or  similar 
pervious  material  on  the  lower  toe  to  hold  it  down 
and  to  counteract  the  tendency  to  slide  by  offering  a 
support  to  the  soil  which  is  pressing  down  toward  the 
bottom. 

Sometimes  a  thin  puddle  lining  of  the  canal  may  be 
advisable,  in  connection  with  the  protection  of  the  lower 
part  of  the  slope,  so  as  to  obstruct  the  percolation  of  water 
into  the  bank.  At  the  same  time  drains  are  provided  for 
carrying  away  as  much  as  possible  of  the  percolating 
water.  In  other  words,  the  lower  bank  should  be  kept 
as  nearly  dry  as  possible,  as  in  this  condition  it  will  slip 
less  readily  than  when  wet. 

The  driving  of  piles  or  the  buttressing  of  the  lower 
part  of  steep  slopes  has  been  attempted  in  places,  but 
with  relatively  small  success  on  account  of  the  diffi- 
culty of  finding  good  supporting  ground  for  the  piles, 
or,  if  this  is  found,  it  is  discovered  that  the  weight  of  the 
moving  material  is  so  great  as  to  displace  any  ordinary 
line  of  piles  or  other  supports.  Sometimes,  as  a  last 
resort,  it  may  be  found  necessary  to  put  the  canal  in 

158 


MAINTENANCE 

a  tight  flume  along  the  points  where  the  lower  banks  are 
sliding  and  thus  carry  it  over  these  treacherous  spots. 

Combating  Pests. — There  is  a  never-ending  warfare 
between  the  irrigation  manager,  aided  by  his  assistants, 
and  the  innumerable  animal  as  well  as  the  plant  pests 
which  live  along  or  under  the  canal  system.  The  newly 
built  banks  offer  tempting  places  for  work  of  borrowing 
animals  and  a  single  gopher  or  muskrat  in  a  few  hours 
may  dig  a  hole  affording  an  outlet  to  the  waters  of  a 
canal,  which  increasing  during  the  night,  will  sweep 
away  thousands  of  yards  of  earth.  The  trapping  and 
poisoning  of  these  animals  must  be  carried  on  con- 
tinuously until  the  banks  have  become  consolidated 
through  months  or  years  of  settlement.  Even  then 
vigilance  should  not  be  relaxed,  but  the  canal-rider 
should  be  always  on  the  watch  for  any  disturbance  of 
the  earth  by  burrowing  animals. 

Each  canal-rider  should  be  provided  with  suitable 
traps  and  from  time  to  time  put  out  poisoned  grain  or 
bait  in  localities  where  indications  of  these  burrowing 
animals  are  noted  or  where  they  are  even  suspected  to 
exist,  protecting  this  poisoned  grain  carefully,  of  course, 
from  being  found  by  domestic  animals  or  human  beings. 

Vegetation  on  Canal  Banks. — The  best  protection  for 
canal  banks  is  that  afforded  through  the  growth  of 
vegetation,  grasses,  weeds  or  bushes  and  small  trees, 
such  as  cottonwood  or  willow,  whose  roots  hold  the  soil 
in  place.  Some  of  this  vegetation  serves  a  useful  pur- 
pose in  this  way,  while  other  varieties  are  highly  in- 
jurious by  tending  to  clog  the  canal  and  preventing  the 
free  flow  of  water  or  by  dropping  seeds  into  the  water, 
these  being  carried  out  on  the  fields  of  the  farmers  and 
thus  spreading  noxious  weeds. 

159 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

The  irrigation  managers  should  study  the  character 
of  vegetation  which  occurs  naturally  along  the  canal 
banks  and  if  necessary  introduce  plants  or  sow  seeds  of 
such  useful  plants  as  may  take  root  under  the  prevail- 
ing conditions.  Various  experiments  must  usually  be 
undertaken  to  determine  the  relative  cost  and  value  of 
different  grasses  for  use  in  this  connection.  Before 
undertaking  these  experiments,  results  of  similar  work 
elsewhere  should  be  considere'd.  On  various  canals 
there  have  already  been  tried  the  sowing  of  barley,  rye 
and  similar  cereals  and  the  cost  of  planting  and  cutting 
these  has  been  compared  with  the  similar  cost  of  cutting 
and  burning  ordinary  weeds. 

By  careful  observation  of  the  vegetation  which  occurs 
naturally  and  by  comparison  of  costs  of  various  methods 
of  cutting  or  controlling  the  weeds,  it  is  usually  possible 
to  arrive  at  conclusions  for  each  locality  as  to  the  best 
method  of  treatment.  There  is  as  yet  no  one  definite 
method  adapted  to  the  varying  conditions  of  large  and 
small  canals  and  the  different  climatic  conditions,  nor 
is  it  always  possible  to  draw  a  sharp  line  between  the  use- 
ful and  injurious  weeds  which  occur  along  a  canal,  as 
some  of  these  weeds  most  valuable  in  holding  the  earth 
under  certain  conditions  become  highly  destructive 
under  others. 

The  destruction  of  the  weed  pests  afford  almost  con- 
tinuous occupation;  especially  in  the  South  they  spread 
with  great  rapidity  along  the  canals  and  in  the  case  of 
moss  in  the  canal,  or  of  large  weeds  on  the  side,  the 
growth  in  a  few  weeks  may  be  such  as  to  materially 
reduce  the  flow  of  water. 

Sheeping. — Wherever  suitable  inclosures  or  herders  can 
be  provided,  such  that  sheep,  goats,  or  cattle  can  graze 

160 


MAINTENANCE 

on  the  banks  of  the  canal,  they  are  sometimes  quite 
effective  in  keeping  down  noxious  weeds.  This  is  the 
case  particularly  with  sheep,  experiments  with  which  have 
been  made  in  the  Salt  River  Valley  of  Arizona. 

It  was  found  there  that  the  use  of  sheep  has  not  only 
decreased  the  expense  of  cleaning  Johnson  grass  from  the 
canals  and  laterals  but  the  packing  of  the  banks  has  prac- 
tically eliminated  all  gophers.  It  is  estimated  that  leak- 
age and  breaks  from  that  source  have  decreased  at  least 
ninety  per  cent.  The  maintenance  foremen  have  com- 
mented upon  the  small  amount  of  work  required  to  main- 
tain the  laterals  when  sheep  are  used  for  cleaning  pur- 
poses as  compared  with  the  greater  amount  of  work, 
trouble  and  expense  incident  to  cleaning  the  same  laterals 
in  former  years. 

Two  herders  have  handled  from  four  hundred  to  five 
hundred  sheep.  They  experienced  only  a  small  amount 
of  trouble  in  keeping  them  out  of  cultivated  fields.  This 
number  of  sheep  confined  to  a  canal  bank  means  a  line 
from  fifty  to  one  hundred  yards  long. 

Johnson  grass  is  unquestionably  an  excellent  feed  when 
young  and  tender  and  the  sheep  are  also  fond  of  the  seed. 
Its  feeding  value  is  high  and  the  sheep  prefer  it  to  most 
other  plants  except  alfalfa.  Sheep  also  relish  the  follow- 
ing plants  that  grow  on  the  canal  banks:  sunflower, 
milkweed,  sour  dock,  sour  clover,  bird  clover,  Bermuda 
grass,  salt  bush,  young  cockle  burrs  and  most  tree  leaves, 
including  the  willow.  They  will  not  eat  the  so-called 
"  tree  tobacco,"  thistles,  foxtail  when  headed  out,  and 
water  grass  when  large. 

The  result  of  the  experiment  developed  the  following 
facts: 

(1)  That  Johnson  grass,  the  most  dangerous  pest  on 
161 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

the  project,  can  be  controlled  and  eventually  eliminated 
from  the  bank  of  canals  and  laterals  by  the  use  of  sheep. 

(2)  That  the  use  of  sheep  has  decreased  materially  the 
cost  of  cleaning  canals  and  laterals. 

(3)  That  sheep  drive  out  gophers  and  thus  cut  the  cost 
of  repairing  breaks  and  reduce  the  loss  of  water  by  seepage 
to  a  minimum. 

(4)  That  it  is  profitable  for  the  farmer  to  maintain  his 
farm  ditches  with  sheep. 

(5)  That  Johnson  grass  will  fatten  sheep  in  ninety  days; 
and 

(6)  That  sheep  can  be  pastured  on  the  canals  and 
laterals  without  damage  to  the  banks.1 

The  cost  of  maintenance  of  canals  and  laterals  before 
the  introduction  of  the  sheep  was  in  round  numbers  $150 
to  $200  per  mile.  After  the  sheep  were  used  the  cost  per 
mile  decreased  in  each  case  fully  one-half.  The  labor 
cost  in  handling  the  sheep  was  $1,500  and  the  saving  in 
canal  maintenance  was  estimated  at  $4,500.  After  proper 
allowance  for  various  expenses  connected  with  the  hand- 
ling of  the  nearly  1,500  sheep  there  was  a  profit  of  a  little 
over  $3,000. 

Moss. — In  many  canals  carrying  clear  water  the  growth 
of  aquatic  vegetation,  especially  the  so-called  moss,  is  a 
serious  matter.  It  is  necessary  to  incur  considerable 
expense  in  keeping  this  down  and  in  some  localities  ex- 
traordinary difficulties  have  been  encountered,  necessitat- 
ing the  shutting  off  of  the  canal  and  permitting  the 
ground  to  dry  out,  even  at  the  risk  of  loss  of  crops. 

In  the  case  of  the  Bear  River  Canal,  in  Utah,  it  is 
stated  that  the  moss  has  been  practically  eradicated  in 

1  From  report  of  C.  H.  Fitch,  Manager,  and  A.  J.  Holton, 
Superintendent,  U.  S.  Reclamation  Service,  for  year  1913-1914. 


MAINTENANCE 

three  years  by  using  a  disk  harrow.  This  implement  is 
stripped  of  seat  and  double  trees  and  the  tongue  cut  to 
four  feet  in  length.  To  this  are  hitched  two  ropes,  one 
leading  to  a  team  on  each  bank.  By  adjusting  the  length 
of  these  ropes,  the  harrow  can  be  run  on  each  slope  or  in 
the  bottom.  It  is  claimed  that  this  digs  up  the  roots  and 
that  they  float  down  with  the  moss  and  are  removed. 
Originally  these  canals  were  foul  and  the  first  year  it  was 
necessary  to  go  over  them  three  times  in  this  way;  the 
second  year,  twice;  and  now  they  require  cleaning  only 
once  each  year.  Little  moss  is  left  and  it  is  believed  that 
this  method  may  operate  successfully  in  other  localities. 
It  is  cheaper  than  attempting  to  mow  the  moss;  it  does 
not  interrupt  the  flow  of  water  in  the  canal;  and  also  helps 
to  puddle  any  leaky  portion  of  the  canal.  It  is  possible 
that  with  a  cross-beam  and  wheel  on  each  bank  the  disk 
harrow  might  be  dragged  more  satisfactorily.  . 

Others  devices  have  been  tried  for  getting  rid  of  moss; 
for  example,  by  dragging  heavy  chains  or  similar  weights 
along  the  bottom  of  the  canal,  the  chain  catching  and  dis- 
lodging the  moss  or  pulling  up  the  weeds  by  the  roots. 
There  are  also  various  mowing  machines  which  have  been 
adapted  to  this  work,  some  of  which  are  fairly  successful. 
It  is  to  be  noted  in  this  connection  that  the  moss  flourishes 
best  in  clear  water,  and  that  if  the  water  is  muddy  for 
any  considerable  length  of  time,  the  moss  does  not  flourish. 

Alkali  Action  on  Concrete. — In  certain  soils,  concrete 
structures,  especially  the  thinner  portions,  are  affected 
by  the  action  of  alkali  contained  usually  in  the  water. 
The  concrete  gradually  softens  at  the  surface  and  crumbles 
away.  Most  of  the  injury  occurs  where  seepage  water 
percolates  through  the  paving  and  the  side  walls  of  struc- 
tures. Frequently  the  action  may  be  delayed  by  proper 

163 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

use  of  drains  and  weep  holes.  In  each  case  special  study 
should  be  made  to  determine  the  best  materials  to  be  used 
in  waterproofing  or  protecting  the  concrete  or  in  replacing 
it,  using  cement  or  mixtures  which  are  found  by  experi- 
ment to  be  least  affected  by  the  alkali  peculiar  to  that 
locality. 

Investigation  made  by  the  United  States  Reclamation 
Service  has  shown  that  the  principal  salts  acting  to 
produce  disintegration  are  the  sulphates,  and  especially 
magnesium  and  sodium  sulphates.  It  is  thought  that 
of  these  the  former  is  the  more  active,  but  this  has  not 
been  definitely  established.  Different  localities  have 
shown  different  results  for  the  same  materials.  Two  ex- 
treme cases  may  be  cited  in  the  Sunnyside,  Washington, 
and  Belle  Fourche,  South  Dakota,  projects.  A  number 
of  test  specimens  exposed  on  the  former  were  observed 
at  the  end  of  about  eleven  months,  but  no  disintegration, 
with  the  exception  of  a  specimen  containing  a  soap  and 
alum  solution  in  the  mixture;  the  specimens  were  all 
of  a  1:3:5  gravel  mixture.  Furthermore,  none  of 
the  concrete  structures  on  this  project  has  been  affected. 

On  the  other  hand,  various  mixtures  exposed  on  the 
Belle  Fourche,  South  Dakota,  project  were  all  found 
to  be  disintegrated  at  the  end  of  eight  months,  with 
the  exception  of  a  1:2  mortar  specimen  which  was 
not  affected.  Concrete  structures  on  this  project  have 
also  been  disintegrated  by  alkali.  Other  projects  showed 
intermediate  results.  Analyses  of  samples  from  the 
Belle  Fourche  project  show  magnesium  and  sodium 
sulphates  present  in  strong  solution  with  the  former 
predominating,  and  from  the  Sunnyside,  Washington, 
project  show  sodium  sulphate  only,  and  in  much  lighter 
solution.  For  the  present  it  may  be  concluded  that 

164 


MAINTENANCE 

in  locations  where  alkali  is  present  containing  these 
salts,  especial  precautions  must  be  taken  to  prevent 
its  possible  action,  unless  experience  with  structures 
previously  built  have  shown  no  deleterious  effect,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  Sunnyside  project  above  cited. 

The  leaner  mixtures  of  concrete  are  more  easily  dis- 
integrated than  the  richer;  also  the  more  scientifically 
proportioned  mixtures,  that  is,  those  having  least  voids 
for  given  proportions  of  cement  and  aggregate,  give 
better  results.  This  is  a  natural  result,  as  the  action 
results  from  seepage  of  water  into  or  through  the  con- 
crete which  is  retarded  by  the  richer  concrete. 

With  care  in  the  selection  of  suitable  aggregates, 
with  proportioning  to  produce  a  rich  dense  mixture, 
and  with  proper  methods  of  mixing  and  placing,  it  is 
possible  to  produce  a  dense  impervious  concrete  that 
will  withstand  the  alkali  action  under  ordinary  conditions, 
without  the  use  of  any  special  materials  for  water- 
proofing purposes.  With  fairly  rich  concrete  an  imper- 
vious skin  of  neat  cement  or  rich  mortar,  such  as  is 
produced  by  working  a  flat  spade  between  the  concrete 
and  steel  or  surfaced  wood  forms,  will  no  doubt  also 
have  much  effect  in  resisting  the  action  of  alkali.1 

1  Extract  from  report  of  U.  S.  Reclamation  Service;  see  also 
Technologic  Paper  No.  44  of  Bureau  of  Standards,  by  R.  J.  Wig 
and  others,  1915. 


CHAPTER  X 

EXPENDITURES,   RECORDING  AND  CLASSIFYING 
WAYS  OF  CLASSIFYING 

IT  is  necessary  that  the  irrigation  manager  have  for 
guidance  a  full  statement  of  all  expenditures,  these 
being  arranged  in  such  groups  or  classes  as  to  enable  him 
to  see  at  a  glance  where  and  for  what  purpose  costs 
have  been  incurred.  There  is  an  infinite  number  of  ways 
in  which  the  expenditures  may  be  classified,  and  what- 
ever classification  is  adopted  it  is  frequently  necessary 
for  particular  purposes  to  have  made  special  analyses 
or  recomputation  of  expenditures.  No  two  managers 
will  be  equally  well  satisfied  with  any  one  classification 
adopted,  but  each  will  desire  to  make  certain  modi- 
fications from  time  to  time  to  give  him  a  better  grasp 
of  the  situation.  There  are,  however,  certain  principles 
which  are  fairly  well  agreed  upon  as  to  lines  of  division 
of  expenditures  common  to  all  irrigation  systems. 

The  simplest  form  of  classification  is  that  of  totaling 
separately  the  cost  for  labor  and  for  materials,  giving 
at  the  end  of  the  month  or  year  information  as  to  the 
amount  paid  for  each  of  these  two  principal  items. 
In  a  large  irrigation  system,  however,  it  is  necessary  to 
know  the  purposes  for  which  these  expenditures  were 
made  and  it  is  often  desirable  to  make  comparison 
of  cost  between  different  systems.  To  do  this  other 

166 


EXPENDITURES,  RECORDING,  CLASSIFYING 

classifications  must  be  adopted  based  upon  certain  large 
features.  For  example,  all  irrigation  works  include  a 
distributing  system,  but  may  not  have  water  storage; 
thus,  to  make  useful  comparisons,  the  expense  of  the 
distributing  portion  of  each  system  should  be  separated 
from  the  expenses  of  storage  so  as  to  ascertain  whether 
the  cost  of  distribution  in  the  one  system  is  comparable 
with  that  in  the  other. 

Following  this  line  it  has  been  found  desirable  to 
classify  all  expenditures  for  operation  and  maintenance 
under  five  general  heads,  as  follows:  (a)  Development; 
(6)  Carriage;  (c)  Distribution;  (d)  Drainage  and  flood 
protection;  (e)  Structure  depreciation. 

Development. — The  operation  and  maintenance  expenses 
which  are  included  under  the  head  of  Development  are 
those  which  pertain  to  the  outlay  made  for  obtaining 
or  controlling  the  water  or  for  getting  possession  of  it, 
for  example,  by  reservoirs  which  store  the  floods,  by 
diversion  dams  taking  it  from  the  river,  by  pumping 
plants  lifting  it  from  the  natural  water  courses  or  from 
wells  or  by  other  means  of  capturing  the  water  and 
separating  it  from  what  may  be  called  the  wild  or  unreg- 
ulated condition  of  nature.  Included  under  this  head 
may  be  the  cost  of  dikesr  or  drainage  ditches  for  pro- 
tecting the  reservoirs  and  all  of  the  subsidiary  works 
which  relate  to  the  first  or  primary  control  of  the  water. 

Carnage. — The  expenditures  which  are  made  in  trans- 
porting the  water  which  has  been  captured  by  the  devel- 
opment works  are  included  under  the  head  of  Carriage, 
such,  for  example,  as  the  cost  of  operating  and  main- 
taining the  main-line  canals  or  of  the  natural  channels 
or  water  courses,  which  take  the  stored  or  pumped  water 
from  the  point  of  original  control  or  development  to  the 

167 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

head  of  the  branch  canals  or  laterals,  which  in  turn 
distribute  it  to  the  fields.  Certain  canal  systems  have 
had  large  expenditures  in  the  way  of  long  and  expen- 
sive canals  around  rocky  or  treacherous  hill  slopes 
before  the  water  reaches  the  vicinity  of  the  irrigated 
lands.  The  cost  of  operating  and  maintaining  these 
expensive  main-line  canals  for  the  carriage  of  the  water 
from  the  reservoir  or  head  works  to  the  distribution 
system  should  obviously  be  considered  separately  in  order 
to  make  useful  comparisons  of  cost  with  those  of  canal 
systems  which  do  not  have  the  necessity  for  this  large 
outlay. 

Distribution. — The  principal  item  of  expense  in  con- 
nection with  operation  and  maintenance  is  that  of  re- 
ceiving and  measuring  water  from  the  main  canal  into 
the  branches  and  laterals  and  in  turn  delivering  it  to  the 
farmers'  laterals.  Here  there  is  not  only  the  largest 
expense  directly  or  indirectly,  but  the  greatest  economy 
may  be  enforced  in  the  use  of  water  and  the  greatest 
damage  may  result  from  lack  of  proper  care  and  expen- 
diture. 

In  cases  of  works,  such  as  reservoirs  or  pumping  plants 
for  development  of  water  and  of  main  canals  for  its  car- 
riage, there  are  usually  a  relatively  few  obvious  needs 
to  be  met.  Extravagance  or  penuriousness  in  this  work 
is  easily  noted,  but  in  the  distribution  system  with  its 
infinite  number  of  small  details  there  is  the  widest  range 
for  use  of  judgment  and  for  display  of  sound  business 
methods  by  which  to  secure  the  greatest  efficiency  and 
economy  in  operating  and  maintaining  the  distribution 
system  and  also  in  producing  the  best  results  on  the 
lands  of  the  farmers. 

Drainage  and  Flood  Protection. — In  some  irrigation 

168 


EXPENDITURES,   RECORDING,  CLASSIFYING 

projects  there  are  local  problems  of  drainage  or  of  pro- 
tection from  floods  which  necessitate  large  outlay.  For 
example,  where  the  irrigable  lands  are  very  nearly  level 
or  sandy  in  quality  great  amounts  of  water  are  fre- 
quently used  and  the  whole  area  becomes  water-logged 
— introducing  the  necessity,  not  only  for  greater  economy 
in  the  use  of  water  but  also  of  large  expenditures  for 
keeping  the  top  of  the  water  table  below  the  ground 
surface.  In  other  cases  where  the  irrigable  lands  are  on 
the  flood  plain  of  a  large  stream,  it  is  sometimes  neces- 
sary to  protect  these  against  annual  or  occasional  floods 
by  a  system  of  dikes,  the  cost  of  maintenance  of  which 
should  obviously  be  separated  from  the  other  expendi- 
tures in  considering  comparative  costs. 

Depredation. — There  is  still  another  item  of  expendi- 
ture which  should  be  considered  in  rounding  out  the  full 
presentation  of  operation  and  maintenance  costs,  and 
that  is  the  depreciation  which  is  taking  place.  Unless 
the  amount  of  this  depreciation  is  ascertained  from  time 
to  time  it  is  impossible  to  know  whether  the  irrigation 
system  is  being  maintained  properly.  The  condition 
is  similar  to  that  of  a  merchant  with  a  large  stock  of 
goods;  unless  he  ascertains  at  the  beginning  of  the  year 
the  amount  and  value  of  the  goods  on  hand  and  again 
takes  account  of  stock  at  the  end  of  the  year,  he  cannot 
find  out  whether  he  has  actually  made  or  lost  money. 
His  books  may  show  an  apparent  gain,  but  his  stock 
may  have  run  down,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  his  sales 
accounts  may  appear  as  though  he  had  lost  money, 
but  in  fact  he  has  accumulated  valuable  goods  for  the 
next  year. 

The  same  condition  exists  under  an  irrigation  system. 
One  manager  may  keep  all  structures  in  good  condition 

169 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

and  spend  considerable  sums  of  money  in  having  every 
detail  in  first-class  working  order,  delivering  water 
promptly  and  promoting  the  prosperity  of  the  country, 
but  at  an  apparently  large  cost.  Thus  he  may  gain  a 
reputation  for  extravagance.  The  next  man  may  rigidly 
cut  down  every  item,  gain  a  reputation  for  economy, 
but  do  this  at  the  expense  of  the  system  and  with  occa- 
sional washouts  or  failures  which  may  be  attributed  to 
natural  causes. 

Without  a  carefully  made  inventory  or  depreciation 
account,  it  impossible  to  show  that  the  first  manager 
with  much  larger  apparent  expenditures  was  really  pro- 
ducing more  economical  results  than  the  second  with  a 
smaller  outlay.  In  other  words,  the  inventory  with 
proper  items  of  depreciation  is  the  keystone  of  the  arch, 
or  the  connecting  link,  which  sustains  the  whole  structure 
of  accounts  and  costkeeping.  It  is  possible,  of  course, 
to  depend  upon  general  knowledge  and  on  personal 
recollection;  on  smaller  irrigation  systems  this  is  usually 
done.  The  depreciation  on  these  is  known  in  a  general 
way  and  repairs  are  made  only  when  absolutely  neces- 
sary, to  be  charged  usually  not  as  an  item  of  deprecia- 
tion or  of  maintenance,  but  to  capital  account,  thus 
serving  to  increase  the  apparent  total  cost  of  the  system. 

OPERATION  AND  MAINTENANCE  DISTINCTIONS. — 
Throughout  these  primary  or  functional  divisions  of  ex- 
penditure— development,  carriage,  distribution,  protec- 
tion and  depreciation — run  the  two  classes  of  work 
performed :  operation  and  maintenance.  That  is  to 
say,  the  expenditures  following  those  for  construction 
consist,  first,  of  those  which  have  to  do  with  the  operat- 
ing of  the  reservoir  or  pumping  works,  and  then  those 
which  are  more  closely  connected  with  its  maintenance 

170 


EXPENDITURES,   RECORDING,  CLASSIFYING 

or  preservation.  This  division  becomes  more  apparent 
in  the  items  pertaining  to  distribution,  where  during  the 
crop  season  most  of  the  expenditures  are  for  operation. 
Then  after  the  crop  season  is  ended  in  the  northern 
lands  the  distribution  system  is  cleaned  and  repaired 
and  the  principal  expenses  at  that  time  are  those  for  main- 
tenance. 

The  maintenance  charges  are  those  arising  from  the 
wearing  out  or  deterioration  of  the  works  used  in  the 
development  and  distribution  of  water.  They  include 
necessary  repairs  to  the  system  and  provision  for  pre- 
vention of  destruction.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
maintenance  of  the  works  is  going  on  simultaneously 
with  operation,  it  is  not  always  easy  to  separate  clearly 
those  expenditures  that  should  be  classed  under  opera- 
tion from  those  that  should  be  classed  under  mainte- 
nance. In  the  main,  however,  there  is  little  difficulty 
experienced  in  differentiating  between  the  two  clasess 
of  charge.  The  operation  charges  are  from  their  natures 
derived  from  expenditures  in  the  handling  of  water  and 
consist  usually  of  salaries  paid  to,  and  supplies  used  by, 
the  irrigation  manager  and  his  various  office  and  field 
assistants,  such  as  clerks,  inspectors,  hydrographers, 
watermasters,  ditch-riders,  and  gate-tenders. 

The  maintenance  charges  result  from  expenditures 
for  salaries  and  wages  paid  to,  and  supplies  and  materials 
used  by,  the  irrigation  manager  and  his  various  assistants 
and  employees  when  engaged  in  repairing  breaks,  re- 
newing structures  and  making  improvements  in  the  canal 
system  after  its  construction.  After  the  apparent 
completion  of  an  irrigation  system  it  is  often  necessary 
to  line  a  canal,  to  provide  additional  riprap,  to  change 
the  location  of  the  canal  slightly  at  some  place,  to  use 

171 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

a  different  type  of  structure  in  some  particular  case, 
or  to  provide  additional  structures  for  the  purpose  of 
avoiding  heavy  maintenance  charges.  Such  work  of 
betterment  is  properly  chargeable  to  maintenance  un- 
less it  is  desired  to  keep  a  separate  account  of  the  better- 
ment items. 

Account  Numbers.- — The  splitting  up  under  various 
heads  of  the  expenditures  made  from  time  to  time  in- 
volves a  large  amount  of  labor.  For  example,  a  bill 
of  materials  may  be  received  from  a  dealer,  this  bill 
including  charges  for  lumber  and  hardware  used  partly 
in  repairing  the  headworks  and  partly  in  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  distribution  system,  together  with  items 
which  are  chargeable  to  operation  of  other  features  of  the 
work.  It  is  seen  that  the  picking  out  of  these  involves 
not  only  full  knowledge  of  conditions  but  a  large  amount 
of  writing,  especially  if  it  is  necessary  to  repeat  the 
words  "  charged  to  maintenance  of  canal  head "  or 
"  charged  to  cleaning  lateral." 

To  avoid  this  excessive  clerical  labor  a  system  of 
symbols  or  numbers  is  usually  adopted,  thus  reducing 
the  work  to  a  minimum.  For  example,  when  the  payroll 
or  bill  of  materials  is  received,  the  superintendent  or 
clerk  who  knows  of  the  transaction  takes  the  voucher, 
goes  over  it  rapidly  and  assigns  the  different  items  or 
parts  of  items  to  corresponding  features  of  the  work, 
these  being  indicated  by  appropriate  symbols.  For 
example,  9-0  $17.00  indicates  that  on  the  particular 
payroll  $17.00  is  to  be  charged  to  the  item  of  labor  on 
concrete  structure  of  main  supply  canal,  etc.  Thus  on 
the  back  of  the  claim  or  voucher  or  on  a  slip  attached 
to  it,  will  be  placed  two  vertical  columns  of  figures, 
the  first  giving  the  distribution  symbols,  and  the  second 


EXPENDITURES,  RECORDING,  CLASSIFYING 

the  amounts,  the  total  of  which  agrees  with  the  total 
payment  made. 

By  transferring  these  amounts  according  to  the  sym- 
bols given  in  the  first  column,  the  distribution  can  be 
quickly  made  and  with  the  least  amount  of  copying. 

Various  codes  or  systems  of  symbols  are  used.  For 
example,  a  number  followed  by  a  dash  will  indicate  the 
principal  structure,  as  follows: 

1-,  Storage  dam  of  masonry  or  concrete. 

2-,  Storage  dam  of  earth. 

3-,  Diversion  dam. 

4-,  Power  plant  operation  and  maintenance. 

Another  set  of  figures  indicates  the  classification 
according  to  labor,  materials,  etc.,  as  follows: 

0,  Salaries   and   wages,   gate-tenders,   watchmen   and 

canal-riders. 

1,  Labor,  men  and  teams. 

2,  Materials  and  supplies. 

3,  Travel  and  livery. 

4,  Depreciation  on  equipment  (for  office  use  only). 

5,  Camp  maintenance  (for  office  use  only). 

6,  Superintendence  (gravity),  (for  office  use  only). 

7,  Engineering  (for  office  use  only). 

8,  General  expense  (for  office  use  only). 

Thus,  as  given  above,  1-0  will  be  the  salaries  or  wages 
on  account  of  the  storage  dam,  or  1-2  materials  and 
supplies  chargeable  to  the  same  dam,  and  so  on,  the 
use  of  these  symbols  saving  a  large  amount  of  time  and 
bringing  the  distributed  expenditures  into  systematic 
order. 

The  development  of  such  a  system  is  a  matter  of  slow 
growth.  There  is  usually  a  tendency  to  elaborate  it 
to  a  point  where  such  a  large  number  of  items  are  kept 

173 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

that  the  results  may  be  more  confusing  than  helpful. 
In  all  of  these  matters  it  is  essential  to  have  clearly  in 
mind  the  object  to  be  attained  or  the  kind  of  informa- 
tion needed  and  to  confine  the  clerical  work  to  obtaining 
a  relatively  few  facts  rather  than  so  many  that  the 
manager  is  more  confused  than  aided  in  reaching  con- 
clusions. 

The  system  of  account  numbers  for  operation  and 
maintenance,  including  betterments,  is  similar  to  that 
adopted  by  many  of  the  railroads.  It  is  found  that 
there  will  be  required  about  100  to  125  account  numbers 
or  even  more  if  the  system  is  complicated.  Although 
such  a  system  at  first  may  appear  to  be  unnecessarily 
elaborate,  experience  has  shown  that  the  clerical  work 
is  far  easier  than  would  be  assumed  from  the  descrip- 
tion and  that  most  of  the  operations  which  appear 
difficult  are  performed  almost  automatically,  as  the 
clerks  handling  these  matters  carry  in  their  heads  the 
account  numbers  and  set  them  down  far  more  quickly 
than  they  could  write  out  any  descriptive  data.1 

The  time  is  approaching  when  all  irrigation  com- 
panies and  similar  public  utility  organizations  will  be 
required  to  keep  accounts  of  this  kind  which  can  be 
compared  with  each  other  and  from  which  conclusions 
can  be  reached  regarding  the  relative  efficiency  and 
economy  of  the  different  systems  of  management. 

Efficiency  and  Economy. — The  object  of  any  system 
of  accounts  or  of  recording  and  classifying  expenditures 
is  to  secure  the  highest  possible  efficiency  in  the  manage- 
ment consistent  with  economy  in  each  detail.  To  bring 

1  See  article  by  H.  T.  Cory  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  American 
Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  Nov.,  1912,  p.  1402. 

174 


EXPENDITURES,  RECORDING,  CLASSIFYING 

about  this  result  it  is  necessary,  as  before  stated,  to 
have  accurate  knowledge  of  the  expenditures  which  have 
been  made,  and  the  liabilities  incurred,  rounding  these 
out  with  an  occasional  physical  valuation  or  by  taking 
account  of  stock,  by  which  it  is  possible  to  know  whether 
the  property  itself  has  increased  or  decreased  in  value 
as  a  result  of  management. 

Attention  has  already  been  called  to  the  fact  that 
the  classification  of  expenditures,  or  the  mere  statement 
of  totals  spent  for  various  purposes,  does  not  reveal 
the  true  conditions  of  efficiency  and  economy  of  opera- 
tion and  maintenance.  It  is  possible  for  the  works 
and  the  agricultural  lands  to  deteriorate  under  a  par- 
simonious management,  and  on  the  other  hand,  by  using 
good  judgment  in  expenditures,  the  property  can  be 
greatly  increased  in  value  and  usefulness.  The  statement 
that  so  much  more  or  less  has  been  spent  than  in  a 
preceding  year  means  little  or  nothing  as  regards  the 
effectiveness  of  the  service,  unless  it  is  joined  with  a 
full  knowledge  as  to  what  has  been  accomplished. 

Costs  are  Large. — The  costs  of  operating  and  main- 
taining a  canal  system  are  necessarily  large.  In  the 
last  ten  years  there  has  been  a  great  change  of  opinion 
due  to  the  accumulation  of  reliable  data  on  this  subject. 
At  first  it  was  assumed  that  these  costs  would  be  merely 
nominal,  the  opinion  being  based  upon  early  conditions 
where  a  small  group  of  farmers  handled  canals  dis- 
tributing water  in  continuous  flow  to  large  tracts  and 
where  the  headgates,  once  set,  were  rarely  changed, 
and  where,  as  a  result,  from  lack  of  care,  a  notable  pro- 
portion of  the  irrigated  lands  either  was  not  supplied 
with  water  or  was  ruined  by  an  excess.  In  nearly  all 
of  these  older  systems  from  a  quarter  to  a  third  of  the 

175 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

best  farms  have  thus  been  injured,  and  the  small  annual 
cost  of  operation  and  maintenance  has  been  more  than 
offset  by  the  swamping  of  thousands  of  acres  of  land 
which  otherwise  might  have  been  worth  one  hundred 
dollars  or  more  per  acre. 

The  fallacious  ideas  of  cheap  cost  of  operation  and 
maintenance  have  been  prolonged  by  the  requirement 
of  some  of  the  state  boards  that  the  systems  operating 
under  the  Carey  Act  should  charge  only  a  nominal 
rate,  say  thirty-five  cents  an  acre,  an  amount  which  has 
been  found  to  be  only  a  third  of  the  actual  expense. 

In  any  large  system  where  water  is  economically 
handled  and  measured  and  where  the  works  are  main- 
tained in  good  condition,  the  operation  and  maintenance 
cost  cannot  be  kept  down  much  below  $1.50  or  $2.00 
per  acre.  Usually  when  such  cheap  costs  prevail  the 
maintenance  and  depreciation  are  not  considered  and 
the  canal  system  is  allowed  to  gradually  deteriorate 
while  a  showing  is  made  of  small  annual  outlay. 

The  misinformation  regarding  the  actual  operation 
and  maintenance  costs  has  been  increased  by  the  efforts 
of  interested  parties  to  attract  purchasers  to  irrigated 
lands  by  statements  of  the  prevailing  low  charges.  The 
average  of  operation  and  maintenance  for  the  whole 
arid  region  of  the  United  States  is  over  one  dollar  per 
acre,  but  some  of  the  larger  private  projects  have  agreed 
temporarily  on  prices  as  low  as  a  third  of  this  amount. 
The  actual  cost  when  properly  entered  may  be,  to  the 
company,  several  times  as  great,  but  this  fact  is  usually 
concealed  and  the  water  users  later  awake  to  the  realiza- 
tion that  they  cannot  properly  operate  and  maintain 
the  system  at  this  cost  after  the  works  have  passed  into 
their  control. 

176 


OLD  DIVERSION  DAM  IN  MILK  RIVER,  MONTANA. 

Temporary  construction  by  community  of  farmers,  with  expensive 

brush  and  stone  repairs. 


RECENT  CONCRETE  DAM,  BOISE  RIVER,  IDAHO. 

Power  plant  and  head  of  main  canal,  typical  gravity  diversion 

from  river. 


EXPENDITURES,  RECORDING,  CLASSIFYING 

The  erroneous  assumption  regarding  small  costs  are 
the  result  of  the  lack  of  a  good  costkeeping  system 
or  of  manipulation  of  an  imperfect  system,  such  that  all 
extraordinary  or  large  items  are  entered  on  the  books, 
if  at  all,  not  as  part  of  the  regular  operation  and  main- 
tenance but  are  charged  as  new  investment  or  added  to 
the  capital  account.  For  example,  following  an  unusu- 
ally severe  storm  or  cloudburst,  the  main  dam  or  a  flume 
or  portion  of  a  canal  may  be  washed  out,  necessitating 
an  expenditure  of  $5,000  for  replacement,  (See  illus- 
tration.) This,  in  such  a  defective  bookkeeping  system 
as  just  noted,  may  be  entered  not  as  maintenance  for 
that  year  but  the  money  may  be  raised  by  special  as- 
sessment and  the  account  carried  on  the  books  as  an  added 
investment  in  the  works. 

In  the  case  of  the  larger  modern  canals  built  by  the 
Government  or  by  large  corporations,  there  are  rarely 
found  those  conditions  of  ease  or  simplicity  which  pre- 
vailed on  older  canals  which  were  gradually  developed 
by  cooperative  work.  In  the  case  of  the  more  modern 
systems,  they  have  been  built  in  more  difficult  locations 
and  with  an  elaboration  of  detail,  which  is  lacking  in 
the  earlier  works.  There  has  not  been  practicable  the 
development  from  the  outset  of  that  spirit  of  coopera- 
tion among  the  settlers  which  tends  to  keep  down  costs. 
On  the  contrary,  large  numbers  of  men  from  various  parts 
of  the  country  and  with  different  experience,  have  been 
attracted  by  advertising  and  brought  together,  being 
located  largely  by  chance  on  lands  under  an  elaborate 
irrigation  system  and  one  which  requires  far  more  skill 
in  its  maintenance  than  the  earlier  more  simple  works. 

In  the  early  stages  of  settlement  under  these  newer 
systems  the  time  of  the  water  user  is  more  largely  needed 

177 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

in  cultivating  his  field.  He  cannot  be  depended  upon 
to  respond  to  immediate  calls  of  the  watermaster  to  make 
repairs  or  to  clean  out  the  distributing  system,  and  thus 
keep  down  the  expense,  but,  on  the  contrary,  he  expects 
that  this  will  be  done  for  him  by  the  central  organiza- 
tion. The  water  user  finds  it  easier  to  pay  for  having 
this  operation  and  maintenance  work  done  than  to  take 
his  own  time  to  do  it.  This  means  that  the  total  costs 
as  charged  on  the  books  are  far  higher  in  these  modern 
systems  than  in  the  case  of  the  older  ones  where  the 
labor  or  the  time  of  the  individual  water  users  in  making 
these  repairs  or  in  cleaning  out  the  ditches  was  not 
charged  or  considered  in  making  up  the  estimate  of  total 
expenditure.  In  the  older  system,  the  majority  of  the 
farmers  accepted,  as  a  matter  of  course,  the  fact  that  they 
must  clean  out  some  miles  of  lateral  in  order  to  get 
water  to  their  land  and  considered  this,  if  at  all,  as  part 
of  the  ordinary  farming  expense  rather  than  of  the  oper- 
ating of  the  canal. 

It  thus  happens  that  in  making  comparison  of  the 
alleged  costs  of  some  of  the  older  simpler  systems,  the 
manager  of  the  more  modern  canal  may  be  discouraged 
by  the  fact  that  he  finds  it  impossible  to  maintain  his 
system  properly  at  the  small  costs  which  are  quoted  to 
him.  He  should  bear  in  mind  that  the  conditions  are 
frequently  not  comparable;  that  the  cost  of  opera- 
tion and  maintenance  as  given  frequently  does  not  in- 
clude those  items  such  as  he  must  insert  on  his  books 
in  order  to  have  full  account  of  the  time  and  money 
spent  on  the  system.  In  other  words,  in  order  to  have 
a  proper  comparison,  the  manager  of  the  up-to-date 
system  must  call  for  an  analysis  of  these  alleged  low 
costs  and  inquire  into  the  fact  as  to  whether  they  include 

178 


EXPENDITURES,  RECORDING,  CLASSIFYING 

all  the  costs,  especially  the  overhead  charges  and  learn 
whether  the  canal  system  with  which  comparison  is  made 
has  been  deteriorating  as  a  whole  during  this  period 
of  supposedly  low  cost  of  maintenance. 

As  an  example  of  alleged  low  cost  of  operation  and 
maintenance  of  one  of  the  older  canals  of  Utah,  may 
be  cited  a  case  where  the  manager  hi  good  faith  stated 
that  the  cost  was  only  48  cents  per  acre.  A  more  care- 
ful analysis  of  the  figures  given  by  his  books,  however, 
showed  that  by  taking  the  actual  acreage  irrigated  in 
successive  years,  the  costs  for  1912  were  as  follows: 

Cents  per  Acre 

General  expenses  and  supervision 16 

Operating 17 

Maintenance 67 

making  a  total  of  $1  per  acre  on  the  main  canal  alone 
of  the  operation  and  maintenance.  To  this  should  be 
added  42  cents  per  acre  for  the  work  put  by  the  farmers 
upon  the  sublateral  system,  which  was  not  included  in 
the  expense  of  the  canal  itself.  In  the  succeeding  year, 
1913,  the  figures  per  acre  irrigated  were  for: 

General  expenses  and  supervision 18 

Operating 16 

Maintenance,  including  some  replacement  $1 . 18 

a  total  for  the  main  canal  of  $1.52,  to  which  should  be 
added  the  estimated  cost  of  the  lateral  system  of  42 
cents,  making  a  total  of  $1.94. 

Instances  of  this  kind  could  be  multiplied  where  the 
man  in  general  charge  of  the  work,  taking  only  a  part 
of  the  figures,  thoroughly  believes  that  he  is  operating 
the  works  as  a  very  low  cost,  whereas,  if  he  had  an 

179 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

analysis  made  in  the  same  manner  as  that  of  one  of  the 
larger  Government  canals,  he  would  be  surprised  to  find 
that  his  costs  instead  of  being  less  are  sometimes  greater 
than  in  the  case  of  the  Government  works. 

The  results  of  these  simple  and  relatively  inexpensive 
methods  of  operating  and  maintaining  are  frequently 
shown  in  the  relatively  small  crop  production  compared 
to  the  large  amount  of  water  applied.  This  is  accom- 
panied by  a  rapid  spread  in  the  area  of  lands  which  are 
injured  or  destroyed  by  seepage  (see  page  128);  such 
destruction  being  due  in  part,  at  least,  to  the  wasteful 
manner  in  which  water  has  been  allowed  to  be  dis- 
tributed to  the  fields. 

As  an  inference  from  what  has  been  above  stated,  it 
is  obviously  a  mistake  to  attempt  to  keep  the  costs  of 
operating  and  maintaining  below  the  amount  needed  for 
the  greatest  economy  of  water  and  the  consequent 
larger  production  of  crops.  In  other  words,  50  cents 
an  acre  saved  in  operation  and  maintenance  may  be  at 
the  expense  of  several  dollars  an  acre  in  crop  production. 
While  the  irrigation  manager  should  strive  at  all  times 
to  reduce  expenses  and  secure  the  highest  economy, 
this  should  not  be  done  at  the  expense  of  efficiency  in 
the  management  or  at  the  expense  of  ultimate  rapid 
deterioration  of  the  irrigation  system  or  of  the  lands 
served  with  the  water. 

Costs,  Public  and  Private. — The  relative  cost  of  operat- 
ing and  maintaining  works  under  the  control  of  the 
Government  or  of  a  large  corporation  affords  a  field  for 
interesting  study  and  should  yield  valuable  results.  It 
is  difficult  to  make  a  comparison  upon  a  uniform  basis 
as  the  managers  of  large  private  works  have  not  as  yet 
generally  accepted  any  one  system  of  handling  their 

180 


EXPENDITURES,  RECORDING,  CLASSIFYING 

accounts.  They  are  gradually  tending  to  adopt  the 
methods  of  bookkeeping  and  costkeeping  followed  on  the 
larger  Government  canals.  It  is  frequently  necessary  for 
the  accountant  to  go  somewhat  deeply  into  details  to 
interpret  the  statements  as  issued  by  the  various  com- 
panies. 

The  comparison  also  of  cost  on  an  acreage  basis  intro- 
duces the  very  serious  complication  as  to  what  acreage 
is  to  be  considered,  whether  that  actually  irrigated  and 
cropped  or  the  acreage  for  which  water  was  available. 

In  the  case  of  the  works  built  by  the  Government  an 
attempt  is  being  made  to  divide  the  costs  on  a  uniform 
basis,  so  as  to  secure  accurate  figures.  In  comparing 
these  with  the  statements  prepared  by  private  companies, 
it  is  at  once  apparent  that  the  cost  of  the  Government 
works  is  large.  This  is  due  in  part  to  the  requirements 
of  law  and  regulations  with  regard  to  numerous  details 
but  the  difference  is  more  apparent  than  real  as  it  arises 
largely  from  the  fact  that  the  private  company  usually 
does  not  include  all  of  the  items.  If  a  statement  could  be 
prepared  by  the  same  man  acting  under  the  same  rules 
for  both  private  and  public  works,  it  would  probably  be 
shown  that  much  of  the  so-called  inexpensive  private 
management  was  really  more  costly  than  appreciated  by 
the  owners. 

Work  Orders. — To  insure  efficient  and  economic  con- 
duct of  the  work,  it  is  necessary  that  before  any  expen- 
ditures are  incurred,  there  be  prepared  an  estimate  of  the 
probable  cost  and  comparison  of  the  total  of  these  esti- 
mates with  the  available  funds,  considering  at  the  same 
time  all  outstanding  liabilities. 

On  a  small  irrigation  system  it  is  relatively  easy  for 
the  manager  to  carry  many  of  these  things  in  his  head 

181 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

and,  trusting  to  memory,  avoid  the  trouble  of  keeping 
detailed  records.  Unfortunately,  however,  after  a  few 
years,  when  the  management  changes,  there  is  little  or 
nothing  of  record  as  regards  past  expenditures.  Thus 
contradictory  ideas  develop  as  to  how  much  was  or  was 
not  spent  on  certain  items  of  the  work.  The  tendency 
is  to  assume  that  in  the  past  certain  operations  were  per- 
formed at  less  cost  than  at  present. 

It  is  desirable  and  even  necessary  for  the  safe  conduct 
of  the  business  that  a  simple  but  effective  system  be  fol- 
lowed of  preparing  preliminary  estimates  and  issuing 
"  work  orders  "  based  on  these  estimates  and  covering 
all  of  the  larger  as  well  as  smaller  items.  These  work 
orders  consist  simply  of  the  estimates,  reduced  to  writing, 
put  in  some  conventional  form  and  properly  approved 
by  the  responsible  men,  thus  forming  the  basis  of  au- 
thority for  the  proposed  expenditure. 

The  work  orders  for  operation  and  maintenance  for 
the  ensuing  season  are  best  prepared  by  consulting  the 
records  of  cost  of  the  preceding  year  and  increasing  or 
decreasing  certain  of  the  items  in  accordance  with  chang- 
ing conditions. 

The  value  of  simple  but  accurate  records  of  past  ex- 
penditures classified  under  various  heads  is  appreciated 
when  it  is  time  to  prepare  the  work  orders  for  future 
operation  and  maintenance.  At  that  time  comparison 
naturally  follows  and  the  whole  question  of  the  economics 
of  the  system  is  brought  into  review.  The  work  orders 
are  prepared  following  the  classification  previously  pre- 
scribed for  the  costkeeper.  These  give  the  list  of  items, 
as  indicated  by  the  proper  symbols,  and  opposite  these 
the  proposed  expenditures  for  the  ensuing  month  or 
season.  At  the  top  or  bottom  of  the  sheet  should  be 

182 


EXPENDITURES,  RECORDING,  CLASSIFYING 

placed  the  amount  available  for  expenditure,  with 
existing  or  probable  liabilities,  and  the  total  of  the 
work  orders  should  be  deducted  from  the  net  balance 
available. 

From  time  to  time  as  conditions  develop,  it  is  necessary 
to  increase  or  decrease  certain  of  these  items  and  the 
system  adopted  should  be  such  as  to  enable  this  to  be 
done  readily,  but  at  the  same  time  should  necessitate 
careful  record  of  the  fact  that  certain  items  of  the  esti- 
mates have  been  increased  or  diminished.  If  a  rigid 
routine  is  not  insisted  upon,  the  man  in  direct  charge 
will  occasionally  be  tempted  gradually  to  exceed  the  esti- 
mate without  definitely  calling  attention  to  the  matter. 
The  work-order  system  to  be  effective  should  be  such 
that  every  increase  over  the  approved  amount  must  be 
noted  by  promptly  placing  on  record  the  amendment  of 
the  original  work  order  so  that  the  fact  of  this  increase 
may  be  clearly  made  known.  The  greatest  danger  of 
any  system  of  this  kind  arises  from  neglect  of  this  detail. 
It  is  of  the  highest  importance,  that  everyone  connected 
with  the  work  be  required  to  record  the  reasons  and  secure 
formal  authority  for  every  notable  increase  of  expend- 
iture, as  in  this  way  alone  can  the  responsible  manage- 
ment keep  properly  informed. 

The  work  orders  should  be  so  prepared  as  to  bring 
together  all  of  the  facts,  not  only  concerning  the  probable 
cost  but  also  permit  later  insertion  of  the  actual  cost  in 
terms  of  completed  structures.  It  has  been  found,  for 
example,  as  shown  by  Mr.  H.  T.  Cory,  that  concrete 
structures  cost  from  $30  to  $35  a  yard,  including  such 
items  as  backfill,  overhead  charges,  etc.  Such  general 
statements  are  more  useful  in  considering  work  of  this 
kind  than  the  more  detailed  figures  as  to  the  cost  of  the 

183 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

concrete  itself,  say,  $12  to  $15  per  yard,  and  of  the  cost 
of  reinforcement,  forms,  etc.,  to  be  added. 

At  the  end  of  each  month  reports  should  be  made  of 
the  percentage  of  completion  under  each  worK  order  and 
the  results  obtained,  so  that  the  manager  may  know  how 
all  important  jobs  are  progressing  and  their  approximate 
cost,  and  have  always  at  hand  the  larger  items  essential 
for  executive  judgment. 

Damages. — Probable  expenditures  for  damages  must 
be  fully  considered,  in  any  estimates  of  future  expendi- 
tures, as  part  of  the  cost  of  operation  and  maintenance. 
The  damage  claims  may  be  quite  large  and  may  arise 
from  neglect  of  detail  in  the  maintenance  of  the  system 
or  from  unforeseen  and  unpreventable  causes — for 
example,  cloudbursts,  or  disturbances  such  as  the  ex- 
perience of  the  oldest  inhabitant  has  not  before  en- 
countered. 

The  claims  made  for  damages  are  usually  far  in  excess 
of  the  actual  injury  or  of  the  amount  for  which  settle- 
ment may  ultimately  be  made,  but  the  amount  paid 
is  dependent  largely  upon  the  skill  with  which  the  claims 
are  handled  on  behalf  of  the  management  and  the  prec- 
edents which  have  been  established  in  this  connection. 

The  projects  which  are  being  owned,  operated,  and 
maintained  by  the  Government  are  to  a  certain  extent 
free  from  damage  claims  as  the  Government  cannot  be 
sued  directly  upon  matters  of  this  kind;  although  suit 
has  occasionally  been  attempted  against  its  agents. 

It  is  impossible  for  any  large  work  conducting  water 
through  hundreds  of  miles  of  canals  and  laterals  to  be 
so  controlled  that  at  some  point  or  another  damage  to 
private  property  is  not  involved.  The  most  common 
occurrence  is  the  break  by  which  the  water  damages 

184 


EXPENDITURES,  RECORDING,  CLASSIFYING 

a  field  of  grain  or  alfalfa.  Such  breaks  may  take  place 
as  the  result  of  a  sudden  cloudburst  or  of  a  combination 
of  circumstances — for  example,  the  occurrence  of  a 
shower  during  which  the  farmers  wish  to  close  their 
headgates.  If  these  are  not  locked,  the  shutting  down 
of  many  will  at  once  check  the  flow  and  the  excess 
water  must  escape  somewhere.  Even  with  a  full  system 
of  wasteways,  a  condition  may  arise  where  the  water 
will  work  injury  to  the  individual. 

When  the  works  built  by  the  Government  are  turned 
over  to  private  parties,  or  in  the  case  of  systems  owned 
and  operated  by  large  corporations,  there  are  frequently 
considerable  claims  for  damages.  These  may  be  divided 
into  several  classes,  as  follows: 

1.  Those  for  actual  injury,  due  to  breaking  of  the 
canal. 

2.  Failure  to  deliver  water  at  the  proper  time  or  in 
proper  quantity,  with  resulting  failure  of  crops. 

3.  Injury  to  animals  falling  into  the  canal. 

The  laws  and  decisions  in  the  various  states  regarding 
damages  vary  widely  and  as  yet  there  is  no  uniformity 
in  treatment  of  these  matters.  In  most  states,  however, 
the  Court  will  not  hold  an  irrigation  company  legally 
liable  unless  there  has  been  a  showing  of  improper  con- 
struction or  negligence  on  the  part  of  the  company  or 
its  employees.  It  is  stated  that  the  courts  of  Colorado, 
in  one  case,  have  held  the  owner  responsible  for  all 
damages  that  have  resulted  or  flowed  out  of  a  disturbance 
of  natural  conditions,  due  to  the  building  of  a  reservoir. 

It  is  advisable  to  have  certain  well-considered  rules 
regarding  compensation  for  injuries  to  the  lands  or 
crops,  so  that  there  may  be  full  understanding  of  these 
matters  in  advance,  and  while  such  rules  might  not 

185 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

have  legal  standing,  yet  their  moral  effect  would  doubtless 
be  good  in  preventing  disputes  over  minor  matters  or 
claims,  or  especially  for  failure  to  deliver  water  at  some 
stated  time. 

Betterment  Charges. — One  of  the  largest  items  of  dis- 
crepancy in  comparing  the  management  cost  of  private 
and  public  works  is  that  which  attaches  to  the  so-called 
"  betterments."  It  is  probable  that  some  time  will 
elapse  before  a  general  agreement  can  be  reached  as 
to  what  is  to  be  included  as  betterments  and  the  place 
to  be  assigned  in  the  costkeeping  system.  In  the  Gov- 
ernment projects  betterments  are  considered  as  closely 
joined  to  maintenance  and  are  entered  usually  under 
a  subheading  of  the  maintenance  items.  To  illustrate 
this  point,  the  case  of  a  wooden  structure  as  previously 
noted  may  be  considered.  In  building  the  canal  it  is 
usually  desirable  from  economy  to  erect  a  considerable 
number  of  wooden  structures.  After  the  canal  has  been 
in  use  for  eight  or  ten  years,  it  will  usually  be  found 
that  a  wooden  structure,  though  frequently  repaired, 
must  be  entirely  renewed.  At  such  times  it  is  usually 
decided  that  the  new  structure  should  be  stronger  or 
larger  than  first  planned.  When  rebuilt  on  the  same 
lines,  it  is  usual  to  charge  the  cost  of  rebuilding  to 
maintenance,  but  if  it  is  built  larger  and  better  than 
the  old,  the  difference  or  increased  cost  resulting  from  this 
enlargement  or  from  substitution  of  concrete  or  steel 
may  more  properly  be  considered  as  an  item  of  better- 
ment of  the  system. 

Depreciation. — Nearly  all  of  the  structures  connected 
with  an  irrigation  system  become  less  secure  or  less 
valuable  with  age.  This  is  conspicuously  noticeable  in 
the  case  of  wooden  gates  or  bridges  which  must  be 

186  i 


EXPENDITURES,  RECORDING,  CLASSIFYING 

replaced  at  the  end  of  eight  or  ten  years,  on  which  the 
depreciation  is  correspondingly  from  about  ten  to  twelve 
per  cent.  Tools,  wagons,  etc.,  wear  out  in  the  course 
of  a  few  years  and  horses  become  old:  the  depreciation 
on  the  tools  being  as  high  as  twenty  to  thirty  per  cent.; 
on  horses  and  wagons  somewhat  less.  At  the  other 
extreme,  are  the  great  dams  built  for  all  time,  in  which 
a  life  of  at  least  one  hundred  years  is  assumed.  The 
reservoirs  behind  these  dams,  however,  may  gradually 
fill  with  silt  and  their  capacity  be  reduced  so  that  it  is 
safe  to  assume  a  depreciation  of  say  two  per  cent,  on 
the  reservoir  created  by  the  dam. 

In  order  to  ascertain  the  true  cost  of  operation  and 
maintenance  it  is  obviously  necessary  to  carry  on  the 
books  a  suitable  depreciation  to  cover  the  wear  and 
tear  of  equipment  and  of  the  structures  which  are  grad- 
ually becoming  less  valuable,  although  still  in  service. 
There  is  a  wide  difference  in  practice  in  this  regard  and 
a  headgate  which  is  on  the  verge  of  going  out,  but 
which  may  last  for  another  season,  is  in  one  sense  just 
as  serviceable  as  it  was  when  new.  The  common  prac- 
tice is  to  disregard  the  fact  that  this  headgate  must  be 
renewed  until  the  time  when  it  is  actually  taken  out 
and  then  charge  the  cost  of  its  replacement  or  better- 
ment as  one  of  the  items  of  ordinary  maintenance.  In 
this  way,  the  cost  of  maintenance  in  some  one  year  may 
be  double  or  treble  that  of  previous  years  or  may  be  so 
great  as  to  require  a  special  levy  or  assessment  for  re- 
newals, which  are  not  considered  as  maintenance  items. 

In  order  to  obtain  comparable  results  of  cost  of  various 
irrigation  systems,  it  is  obviously  necessary  that  there 
should  be  some  uniform  practice  in  regard  to  this  matter 
of  depreciation,  as  its  presence  or  absence  vitally  affects 

187 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

the  totals.  The  true  cost,  for  example,  of  operation, 
should  take  into  account  the  wearing  out  of  the  tools  or 
equipment.  The  cost  of  maintenance  of  the  structures 
should  be  accompanied  by  a  clear  statement  as  to  the 
extent  to  which  depreciation  of  these  structures  has  been 
entered  on  the  books. 

The  determination  of  the  amount  of  depreciation  of 
each  structure  or  class  of  structures  must  be  left  with  the 
irrigation  manager  and  his  assistants  in  the  field,  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  peculiar  conditions  and  the  length 
of  life  of  similar  structures  under  like  conditions.  In  all 
considerations  of  cost  and  expenditures  this  matter  of 
depreciation  must  be  kept  prominently  in  view.  Neglect 
to  do  so  results  in  fallacious  assumptions  concerning  the 
economy  of  operation  and  unfair  comparisons  between 
the  management  of  various  men.  For  example,  one  man 
seeking  to  show  economical  operation  may  be  tempted 
to  omit  or  cut  down  the  depreciation  item  and  show  a 
corresponding  gain,  while  another  man,  really  a  more 
effective  manager,  may  conscientiously  show  the  depre- 
ciation and  apparently  have  larger  expenditures,  although 
actually  keeping  the  work  in  better  condition. 

Many  of  the  worst  blunders  in  financing  irrigation  sys- 
tems have  arisen  from  failure  to  take  into  consideration 
all  of  these  items  of  depreciation  and  treat  them  fairly, 
so  that  there  is  no  one  matter  which  must  be  given  more 
thoughtful  consideration  than  this  of  the  gradual  depre- 
ciation of  structures  and  the  allowances  to  be  made  for 
them. 

It  is  an  open  question  as  to  how  the  item  of  depreci- 
ation may  be  handled;  whether  to  set  aside  each  year 
an  amount  as  a  sinking  fund,  or  whether  to  let  the  de- 
preciation item  accumulate  in  the  nature  of  a  probable 

188 


EXPENDITURES,  RECORDING,  CLASSIFYING 

liability  to  be  met  at  some  future  time  by  special  assess- 
ment. The  latter  is  the  plan  usually  adopted,  as  the 
financial  condition  rarely  warrants  any  company  accumu- 
lating a  sinking  fund. 

Sinking  Fund. — Closely  connected  with  the  method  of 
handling  depreciation  is  that  of  the  creation  of  a  sinking 
fund  to  take  care  of  this  depreciation.  Theoretically, 
the  mangement  should  set  aside  each  year  enough  money 
to  offset  the  decay  of  wooden  structures,  for  example,  so 
that  at  the  end  of  the  tenth  year,  there  would  be  available 
adequate  funds  for  rebuilding  these  structures,  thus  the 
cost  of  maintenance  will  be  distributed  uniformly.  In  a 
community,  however,  where  money  is  worth  ten  or  twelve 
per  cent.,  or  even  more,  or  where  it  is  almost  impossible 
for  the  farmer  to  borrow  money  on  any  terms,  it  is  ob- 
viously unwise  to  accumulate  a  reserve  sinking  fund  to 
meet  this  depreciation.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  far  more 
economical  to  treat  these  renewals  as  matters  of  emergency 
to  be  paid  for  by  special  assessment  when  the  work  must 
be  done, 


CHAPTER  XI 
RECEIPTS  AND  VALUES 

REPAYMENT  OF  BUILDING  COST 

IN  the  management  of  any  old,  well-established  irriv. 
gation  system,  the  matter  of  repayment  of  cost  of  the 
system  and  of  collection  of  building  charges  has  pre- 
sumably been  settled,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  on  most 
of  the  large  canals  in  the  United  States,  whether  built 
by  public  or  private  capital,  there  still  remains  a  large 
amount  to  be  paid  on  the  original  investment.  The  irri- 
gation manager  is,  therefore,  more  or  less  directly  con- 
cerned in  seeing  that  this  investment  is  returned  and  that 
payments  are  made  annually  or  at  periodical  intervals; 
also  that  collection  of  claims  for  cost  or  building  are 
properly  followed  up. 

When  most  of  these  larger  works  were  planned,  it  was 
assumed  that  payment  could  be  made  in  ten  years  or  less, 
Nearly  all  of  the  first  estimates  of  revenues  or  earnings 
have  been  based  on  this  assumption.  Experience  has 
shown,  however,  that  under  usual  circumstances  this  pay- 
ment in  ten  years  has  been  impossible  of  accomplishment 
and  that,  although  there  is  a  considerable  percentage 
of  the  newcomers  on  any  project  who  can  make  pay- 
ment within  ten  years  or  less,  there  is  also  a  very  large 
body  of  irrigators  who  find  it  impossible  to  obtain 
needed  money  to  level  and  develop  their  farms,  sup- 

190 


RECEIPTS  AND  VALUES 

port  their  families,  and  make  the  annual  payments  re- 
quired in  the  original  contract.  It  has,  therefore,  been 
necessary  in  most  cases  to  extend  the  time,  usually 
on  an  interest-paying  basis.  In  the  case  of  the  works 
built  by  the  Government,  however,  no  interest  has 
been  charged  for  such  extension  from  ten  years  to 
twenty  years. 

There  is  required  a  high  order  of  business  ability  in 
order  to  properly  handle  this  matter  of  collections.  In 
the  case  of  corporations  the  questions  of  extending  or 
adjusting  the  time  of  payment  can  be  met  largely  on  the 
individual  basis,  through  the  use  of  knowledge  on  the  part 
of  the  manager  as  to  the  financial  ability  of  each  of  the 
irrigators  who  had  contracted  to  make  the  required  pay- 
ments. 

In  the  case  of  the  Government  projects,  however,  the 
exercise  of  individual  judgment  is  more  restricted,  as 
these  matters  are  necessarily  governed  by  law  and  regu- 
lations which  cannot  discriminate  between  individuals  to 
the  degree  that  is  possible  in  the  dealings  had  by  cor- 
porations or  private  companies.  With  such  persons 
somewhat  rigid  rules  must  be  followed  and  in  order  that 
a  relatively  few  deserving  individuals  may  not  be  op- 
pressed, liberal  terms  have  been  granted  to  all.  For  this 
reason,  the  precedents  established  by  the  Government  in 
this  respect  cannot  always  be  followed  in  connection  with 
corporate  efforts. 

As  regards  the  ability  of  the  pioneer  or  early  settler  on 
a  new  project  to  make  payments  of  the  building  cost  or 
for  water  rights,  it  may  be  said  that  there  is  general  agree- 
ment as  to  the  fact  that  such  a  man  entering  upon  the 
work  should  have  at  least  from  $1, 500  to  $2, 000  to  establish 
himself  properly  upon  an  irrigated  farm  of  from  forty  to 

191 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

eighty  acres.  Even  larger  sums  are  needed  to  prepare 
the  ground  and  put  it  in  good  productive  condition,  but 
the  average  success  has  been  made  probably  with  about 
this  amount  of  money  available.  Of  course,  there  are 
instances  where  a  man  has  come  upon  a  piece  of  raw 
land  and  with  nothing  except  the  labor  of  his  hands  and 
use  of  his  brains  has  succeeded  in  making  a  living  and 
ultimately  has  secured  a  valuable  farm  and  home  for  his 
family. 

These  instances,  however,  may  be  considered  as  ex- 
ceptional and  as  tending  to  prove  the  rule  that  a  certain 
amount  of  capital  is  required  in  order  to  make  a  success- 
ful start.  On  the  other  hand,  men  have  come  upon  the 
new  lands  with  amounts  as  high  as  $10,000  and  have 
promptly  proceeded  to  lose  all  of  their  capital,  not 
making  a  success  until  down  to  "  bed  rock  "  and  with- 
out an  available  dollar  but  with  experience  which  ulti- 
mately enabled  them  to  make  a  new  start  and  achieve 
a  telling  victory. 

For  example,  an  inexperienced  entryman  came  to  one 
of  the  projects  with  about  $8,000  and  tempted  by  the 
statements  of  the  real-estate  dealers,  purchased  160 
acres  of  unimproved  irrigated  land,  paying  down  nearly 
$5,000  on  account.  He  discovered  that  his  remaining 
capital  was  not  sufficient  to  put  the  land  in  produc- 
tive condition  and  found  himself  with  a  tract  of  land  so 
large  that  he  could  neither  utilize  it  to  advantage  nor 
could  he  dispose  of  the  excess  over  what  he  could  handle 
at  the  price  which  he  had  agreed  to  pay  for  it.  After 
he  had  sacrificed  about  80  acres,  he  was  then  able  with 
his  own  labor  to  develop  the  greater  part  of  the  80  acres 
remaining.  Had  he  confined  his  purchase  and  efforts  to 
40  acres  at  the  outset  he  would  have  been  able  to  put 

192 


RECEIPTS  AND  VALUES 

this  in  early  productive  condition  by  using  the  fund 
then  available  and  to  keep  up  his  payments  on  the  40 
acres — a  condition  impossible  of  accomplishment  on  160 
acres. 

The  ideal  condition  of  making  payments  of  building 
cost  is  to  require  at  the  outset  a  fairly  good  install- 
ment on  this  cost,  say,  at  least  one-tenth.  Many  pri- 
vate companies  require  that  newcomers  shall  pay  down 
from  twenty  to  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the  cost  of  the 
water  and  lands,  in  case  they  are  selling  the  land  with 
the  water.  It  is  believed  that  at  least  one-tenth  payment 
should  be  made  in  advance  to  insure  good  faith  and  to 
give  the  settler  such  reasonable  interest  in  the  land  that 
he  will  not  throw  up  his  purchase  when  the  first  difficul- 
ties are  encountered.  If  he  has  not  made  any  consider- 
able payments  down  in  advance,  he  is  apt  to  be  easily 
discouraged  and  move  to  some  other  locality,  as  there  is 
nothing  in  particular  to  induce  him  to  remain  and  try 
to  overcome  unexpected  difficulties. 

After  this  first  considerable  payment,  those  required 
for  the  second  and  third  years  should  be  small,  being 
conditioned,  however,  upon  the  investment  by  the  irri- 
gator  of  an  equivalent  amount  at  least  in  the  cultivation 
and  improvement  of  the  place.  In  other  words,  if  con- 
ditions are  made  such  that  the  newcomer  will  develop 
his  farm  and  thus  improve  the  security,  he  should  not  be 
required  to  make  payment  on  account  of  the  water  for 
two  or  three  years.  There  should  be,  however,  reason- 
ably exacting  conditions,  which  will  necessitate  main- 
taining or  building  up  the  fertility  of  the  soil  to  its  high- 
est productivity,  and  putting  permanent  improvements 
upon  the  ground  in  the  way  of  fences  and  buildings, 
as  well  as  providing  necessary  farm  animals.  By  thus 

193 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

deferring  the  early  payments  of  building  cost,  the  settler 
should  be  able,  at  the  expiration  of  two  or  three  years, 
to  begin  to  make  substantial  payments.  These  should 
then  increase  in  amount  until  about  the  tenth  year, 
when  they  should  reach  the  maximum  which  the  soil 
is  capable  of  producing. 

PAYMENT  OF  OPERATION  AND  MAINTENANCE  COSTS 

The  operation  and  maintenance  costs  on  any  irriga- 
tion system  continue  as  long  as  the  system  is  used. 
They  require  annual  expenditures  which  must  be  met 
either  in  advance  or  at  the  end  of  the  irrigation  season. 
In  case  these  estimated  costs  are  not  paid  in  advance, 
it  then  becomes  necessary  for  the  management  of  the 
system  either  to  use  reserve  funds  for  meeting  the  wages 
and  material  bills,  or,  as  is  usually  the  case,  to  borrow 
an  amount  of  money  adequate  to  meet  immediate  needs 
and  pay  interest  upon  this  until  the  dues  are  collected 
from  the  individual  water  users  at  the  middle  or  end  of 
the  irrigation  season. 

Unlike  the  building  charges,  these  operation  and 
maintenance  costs  cannot  be  indefinitely  deferred  on  the 
ground  that  they  are  a  permanent  investment  in  add- 
ing to  the  value  of  certain  lands,  but  they  must  be 
kept  up  year  by  year.  It  is  possible  that  at  the  out- 
set they  may  be  allowed  to  accumulate  in  part  to  be 
met  by  payments  to  be  distributed  over  subsequent 
years,  but  this  condition  evidently  cannot  be  long  con- 
tinued. 

When  a  project  is  first  initiated,  and  when  all  of  the 
lands  are  not  yet  under  irrigation,  the  question  of  the 
proper  distribution  of  the  operation  and  maintenance 

194 


RECEIPTS  AND  VALUES 

charge  is  serious.  It  is  obviously  impossible  to  assess 
the  full  cost  of  operating  and  maintaining  the  system 
provided  for,  say,  50,000  acres  upon  only  a  part  of  these 
lands.  During  this  first  year  only  5,000  acres  out  of 
the  50,000  may  be  actually  cropped,  and  in  the  second 
year  10,000  acres,  and  so  on.  Under  these  conditions, 
the  operation  and  maintenance  charge  must  be  handled 
in  one  of  the  following  ways: 

(a)  Accumulated  against  the  lands  which  are  not 
taking  water  and  be  made  payable  when  these  are  sold 
or  water  is  applied  for  them,  or 

(6)  These  early  costs  must  be  added  to  the  building 
charge,  or  possibly, 

(c)  Carried  as  a  deferred  charge  to  be  distributed  over 
the  subsequent  years.  The  problem  is  a  difficult  one  and 
any  of  the  three  ways  above  suggested  is  open  to  ob- 
jection. 

Assuming,  however,  that  the  project  is  already  com- 
pleted and  the  lands  utilized  to  an  extent  such  that  the 
majority  of  them  are  in  cultivation,  then  the  annual 
cost  of  operation  and  maintenance  can  presumably  be 
collected  from  these  lands.  The  question  to  be  deter- 
mined, if  not  already  settled,  is  whether  such  collection 
should  be  made  in  advance  or  distributed  through  the 
year.  There  are  certain  advantages  of  collecting  this 
amount  in  advance  at  the  beginning  of  each  spring, 
notably  as  affecting  the  water  economy  on  the  tract  and 
in  keeping  down  the  excessive  application  of  water  if 
the  operation  and  maintenance  charge  is  made  propor- 
tional to  the  amount  of  water  which  is  delivered  to 
the  lands. 

For  example,  when  a  water  user  comes'  to  the  office 
to  ask  for  a  certain  amount  of  water  to  be  delivered  to 

195 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

his  land,  if  at  that  time  he  is  required  to  make  payment 
of  the  amount  of  water  demanded,  it  is  almost  invari- 
ably the  case  that  he  will  conclude  that  he  can  get  along 
with  a  less  amount  of  water  than  the  quantity  he  would 
order  if  the  amount  were  simply  charged  on  his  bill  to 
be  paid  at  the  end  of  the  year.  This  condition  has  been 
found  to  exist  on  irrigation  projects  and  that  with  this 
less  amount  of  water,  the  irrigator  as  a  rule  can  produce 
better  crops  than  by  a  more  lavish  use,  also  he  is  less 
likely  to  fill  up  the  ground  water  and  raise  the  water 
plane  to  a  point  where  he  will  injure  the  fields  of  his 
neighbors.  For  this  reason,  the  requirement,  as  stated 
before,  of  payment  in  advance  for  water  ordered  tends 
not  only  to  promote  economy  in  the  use  of  water  but 
a  better  cultivation  of  the  fields  and  a  larger  production. 
One  provision  which  has  been  found  to  be  of  advan- 
tage is  to  add  to  the  estimated  cost  of  operation  and 
maintenance  when  collected  at  the  end  of  the  year  an 
additional  amount  of  about  five  per  cent,  to  cover  cost 
of  collection.  If  the  water  user  makes  prompt  payment, 
before  the  bill  is  sent  to  him,  say  on  the  first  day  oi 
December,  and  thus  avoids  the  clerical  and  other  ex- 
pense of  collection,  a  rebate  of  five  per  cent,  can  then 
be  made  on  the  operation  and  maintenance  charge. 
If,  however,  he  does  not  make  a  prompt  payment  and  a 
bill  must  be  sent  to  him,  then  at  the  end  of  the  thirty 
days  a  penalty  of  one  per  cent,  is  added  for  each  month 
during  which  he  has  delayed  to  make  payment,  thus 
following  the  precedent  established  in  many  counties 
in  the  collection  of  taxes.  Such  course  of  procedure 
is  a  source  of  economy  to  the  management  and  gives 
certain  advantages  to  the  man  who  makes  prompt 
payment. 

196 


RECEIPTS  AND  VALUES 

CARRYING  OR  RENTAL  CHARGE 

Prior  to  the  completion  of  a  large  irrigation  system 
and  the  formal  opening  of  it  with  declaration  of  cost 
and  of  all  of  the  other  related  conditions,  it  has  been 
found  advisable  to  permit  water  to  be  used  on  a  rental 
basis  or  a  charge  for  carrying  it  to  the  land.  When 
the  first  governmental  irrigation  projects  were  partly 
completed  under  the  terms  of  the  Reclamation  Act, 
it  was  held  that  this  could  not  be  done,  but  as  experi- 
ence was  acquired,  the  law  was  more  liberally  interpreted 
and  authority  was  granted  to  operate  some  of  the  canals 
which  had  been  purchased  hi  connection  with  the  con- 
struction and  enlargement  of  such  systems,  water  being 
furnished  to  these  canals  on  an  annual  charge  prior  to 
th~  time  when  regular  payments  of  the  building  costs 
should  begin.  This  has  been  found  advantageous,  not 
only  to  the  water  user,  but  to  the  management  itself, 
as  it  permits  the  lands  to  be  watered  before  the  system 
is  fully  completed  and  the  canals  and  distributing  sys- 
tems to  be  thoroughly  tested  and  the  earthwork  to 
become  seasoned. 

There  are  two  classes  of  cases  which  have  been  treated 
in  this  manner.  The  first  class  is  where  the  resident 
farmers  are  relatively  few  in  number,  and  where  it  would 
be  impossible  for  them  to  pay  the  full  expense  of  oper- 
ation and  maintenance.  For  example,  it  is  usual  that 
the  farmers  are  not  in  a  compact  body,  but  are  scattered 
about,  so  that  laterals  built  to  supply  ten  farms  may  be 
called  upon  the  first  year  or  two  for  only  two  or  three  of 
these  farms.  It  is  impossible  for  these  few  men  during 
the  first  year  or  two  to  carry  the  entire  cost  of  maintain- 
ing the  system  and  opeiating  it  to  these  isolated  spots. 

197 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

Under  these  conditions  a  nominal  carrying  charge 
has  been  fixed  and  any  excess  of  cost  above  that  re- 
turned by  payment  of  this  has  been  charged  to  the 
building  account,  inasmuch  as  it  is  believed  to  be  nec- 
essary to  make  these  expenditures  in  getting  the  system 
in  good  working  order. 

The  second  class  of  conditions  is  where  the  major  por- 
tion of  the  land  is  under  irrigation  and  where  the  area 
irrigated  bears  such  a  large  ratio  to  the  total  irrigable 
that  the  total  cost  of  operation  and  maintenance  can 
be  borne  properly  by  the  farmers  who.  are  enjoying 
the  use  of  the  water,  inasmuch  as  they  secure  the  entire 
direct  benefit  of  the  operation  and  maintenance  and  at 
a  rate  which  is  reasonable  and  frequently  less  than 
that  of  other  projects.  The  effort  is  made  in  the  second 
class  of  cases  to  charge  and  collect  the  entire  cost  of 
operation  and  maintenance,  but  without  an  allowance 
for  interest  or  depreciation. 

Charges  Proportional  to  Water  Delivered. — The  annual 
charges,  whether  for  the  carrying  of  water  to  the  irri- 
gators  of  the  projects  not  yet  completed  or  formally 
opened,  or  for  operation  and  maintenance  on  those 
which  have  been  completed,  should  be  based  upon 
measurement  of  the  amount  of  water  delivered  at  each 
farm.  It  is  alleged  in  opposition  to  this  that  the  cost 
of  operation  will  be  increased,  but  experience  has  shown 
that  this  small  additional  cost  is  made  up  many  times 
over,  not  only  by  direct  economy  in  use  of  water,  but 
also,  as  above  stated,  on  page  196  by  larger  crop  pro- 
duction and  reduction  of  losses  to  the  community  due 
to  swamping  of  the  lands. 

The  same  principles  apply  as  in  the  sale  of  any  other 
commodity.  The  experience  of  mankind  has  shown  that 

198 


RECEIPTS  AND  VALUES 

wherever  a  flat  rate  is  charged,  there  is  waste  and 
indirect  losses,  as,  for  example,  in  selling  natural  gas 
or  of  electric  light  and  power  under  pioneer  conditions. 
There  is  no  more  reason  for  disposing  of  water  without 
measurement  than  there  is  for  permitting  coal  or  groceries 
to  be  delivered  without  measurement  or  record  of  the 
amount  taken  by  each  individual. 

Where  the  lands  of  a  project  are  fairly  uniform  in 
character,  the  problem  of  payment  on  a  measured  basis 
is  relatively  easy.  It  is  possible  to  set  a  somewhat 
arbitrary  but  fair  minimum  quantity  of  water,  for 
example,  two  acre-feet  per  acre  to  be  delivered  to  the 
farmer  at  an  annual  charge  of  say  $1,  this  amount  to 
be  paid  whether  the  whole  quantity  of  two  acre-feet 
per  acre  is  used  or  not.  Each  water  user  is  then  entitled 
to  this  amount,  i.e.,  his  two  acre-feet  for  each  acre  of 
irrigated  acre  contingent  on  beneficial  use.  When  this 
is  used  he  can  then  order  as  much  more  water  as  he 
desires,  making  payment,  -preferably  in  advance,  for 
additional  water  at  a  rate  of  50  cents  per  acre-foot, 
delivered  at  his  land.  This  rate  of  50  cents  per  acre- 
foot  is  continued  until  he  has  had  a  complete  acre-foot 
per  acre  for  his  irrigable  area.  For  the  first  two  acre- 
feet  he  has  paid  at  the  rate  of  $1  per  acre-foot  and  for 
the  third  acre-foot  at  50  cents.  When,  however,  he 
desires  an  additional  amount  above  the  three  acre-feet 
per  acre,  the  rate  should  be  increased  to  say  60  cents 
per  acre-foot  until  he  has  used  an  amount  equivalent 
to  four  acre-feet  per  acre  when  the  rate  should  be  in- 
creased to  say  75  cents  per  acre-foot,  and  so  on,  in- 
creasing the  rate  per  acre-foot  as  more  and  more  water 
is  used. 

This  increased  rate  per  acre-foot  is  justified  because  of 
199 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

the  fact  of  the  increased  cost  in  operating  the  project; 
also  by  the  reduction  in  amount  of  land  irrigated  when 
using  an  excessive  amount  of  water  on  any  given  area, 
and  the  frequent  destruction  to  neighbor's  property  by 
such  excessive  use.  As  above  stated,  the  requirement 
of  payment  in  advance  when  ordering  this  additional 
amount  of  water  is  found  helpful  in  that  an  irrigator 
will  order  less  water  if  he  must  pay  for  it  in  advance. 

Sandy  Lands.— This  system  of  requiring  a  minimum 
payment  for  a  certain  amount  of  water,  say  $1  for  two 
acre-feet  per  irrigable  acre,  becomes  somewhat  difficult 
or  complicated  where  a  project  consists  of  lands  vary- 
ing widely  in  their  physical  properties.  Where  in  one 
location  the  lands  are  extremely  sandy  and  in  another 
the  area  consists  largely  of  heavy  clay,  it  may  appear,  for 
example,  that  on  the  sandy  land  it  is  necessary  to  have 
several  times  as  much  water  as  on  the  clay  lands.  Various 
efforts  have  been  made  to  set  different  standards  for  the 
minimum  amount  of  water  to  be  delivered  under  these 
circumstances,  i.e.,  that  for  $1  per  irrigable  acre,  there 
will  be  delivered  to  the  sandy  lands  three  acre-feet,  and 
to  the  clay  lands  only  one  acre-foot. 

Experience  has  shown,  however,  that  it  is  not  as  neces- 
sary to  classify  the  lands  on  this  arbitrary  basis  as  was  at 
first  inferred,  and  as  the  lands  become  better  developed 
and  the  owners  acquainted  with  their  physical  character, 
it  frequently  happens  that  the  sandy  lands  can  be  success- 
fully irrigated  with  a  far  less  amount  of  water  than  was 
previously  assumed.  Thus  the  problem  in  actual  prac- 
tice is  perhaps  less  difficult  than  might  be  anticipated 
from  theoretical  consideration. 

There  are,  however,  conditions  where  the  land  is  so 
sandy  that  in  spite  of  all  efforts,  a  considerable  amount 

200 


RECEIPTS  AND  VALUES 

of  water  is  required  in  excess  of  that  needed  for  adjacent 
heavier  lands.  In  such  cases,  the  suggestion  has  been 
made  that  an  organization  of  the  water  users  appoint  a 
small  committee  to  act  together  with  a  representative 
of  the  manager,  to  go  over  these  sandy  tracts  and  to  arrive 
at  some  arbitrary  rule  or  understanding  by  which  the 
owners  of  these  sandy  lands  may  receive  the  water  at  a 
less  rate  per  acre-foot  than  the  owners  of  other  lands. 
In  other  words,  if  hi  the  opinion  of  experienced  men  the 
average  lands  of  the  project  require  only  two  acre-feet 
and  these  sandy  areas  require  four  acre-feet  to  produce 
profitable  crops,  the  rule  may  be  made  that  on  such  lands 
an  amount  of  four  acre-feet  may  be  furnished  at  the  same 
rate  as  the  two  acre-feet  on  the  other  lands.  This  implies, 
of  course,  that  any  loss  due  to  reduced  cost  per  acre-foot 
for  this  particular  land  must  be  made  up  by  distributing 
the  amount  pro  rata  to  all  of  the  other  lands  of  the 
district. 

While  such  a  scheme  as  above  proposed  is  simple  in 
conception,  it  is  found  in  practice  to  be  extremely  difficult 
of  application,  because  there  is  no  sharp  line  of  demar- 
cation between  the  very  sandy  lands  and  those  less  sandy 
or  relatively  heavy  and  requiring  less  water.  The  quan- 
tity of  water  needed  is  also  a  matter  largely  of  skill  and 
individual  experience,  so  that  on  one  piece  of  sandy  land, 
it  may  appear  that  a  farmer  has  raised  a  successful  crop 
with  half  the  amount  of  water  which  his  neighbor  claims 
to  be  absolutely  essential. 

COLLECTION   METHODS 

The  methods  of  making  collections  of  operation  and 
maintenance  dues  are  as  a  rule  those  which  are  pursued 

201 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

by  the  business  houses  or  corporations  in  similar  debts. 
It  is  important  that  each  water  user  be  notified  promptly 
at  the  end  of  the  month  of  the  amount  of  water  delivered 
(see  p.  114)  and  be  kept  informed,  so  that  if  there  is 
any  complaint  or  misunderstanding  as  to  the  quantity, 
this  can  be  taken  up  while  the  matter  is  fresh  in  mind. 
At  the  end  of  the  season,  say,  during  November,  general 
notices  should  be  issued  to  the  effect  that  the  water  users 
who  make  prompt  payment  at  the  office  before  bills  are 
sent  out,  may  be  permitted  to  take  advantage  of  a  certain 
cash  discount  over  the  charges  imposed  on  the  others,  in 
recognition  of  the  saving  in  clerical  work  and  the  cor- 
responding expenditure  in  making  out  bills. 

On  the  first  of  December,  the  estimated  cost  of  opera- 
tion and  maintenance  should  be  ascertained  and  to  this 
an  amount  of  approximately  five  per  cent,  should  be 
added  to  cover  cost  of  collection.  If,  as  before  stated, 
the  payments  are  promptly  made  before  the  bills  are  sent 
out  then  this  amount  of  five  per  cent,  should  be  deducted 
for  prompt  payment. 

As  soon  as  possible  after  the  first  of  January,  or  by 
January  fifteenth,  active  efforts  should  be  made  to  secure 
collection  through  sending  out  circular  letters  or  mailing 
notices,  and  on  the  first  of  February  and  on  the  first 
day  of  each  succeeding  month  a  penalty  of  one  per  cent, 
should  be  added. 

It  is  essential  for  the  success  of  any  project  that  prompt 
payment  be  had  of  the  cost  of  operating  and  maintenance, 
otherwise  the  management  must  borrow  the  money  to 
carry  on  the  work  and  be  put  to  unnecessary  expense  in 
all  of  its  clerical  and  related  operations. 

Accumulation  of  Charges. — A  serious  problem  arises  in 
connection  with  the  lands  for  which  water  has  been  pro- 

202 


RECEIPTS  AND  VALUES 

vided  and  which  are  not  being  irrigated  and  consequently 
in  which  operation  and  maintenance  charges  are  not  being 
paid.  It  is  obvious  that  these  lands  which  are  not  in  use 
should  make  payments  for  the  maintenance  of  the  system 
which  has  been  built  for  their  use.  The  fact  that  the 
lands  are  not  cultivated  should  not  relieve  them  from 
payment,  as  the  cost  of  operating  and  maintaining  is 
nearly  as  great  whether  these  lands  take  water  or  not. 
In  other  words,  the  charges  should  be  accumulated  against 
them. 

The  serious  objection  to  such  accumulation  arises,  how- 
ever, in  the  fact  that  when  these  lands  are  finally  to  be 
put  to  use,  there  is  a  large  bill  for  back  charges  to  be  paid. 
It  is  sometimes  extremely  difficult  for  the  newcomer  to 
pay  these  off  in  order  to  begin  the  work  of  cultivation. 
At  that  time  he  has  greatest  need  for  his  money  and  is 
deterred  from  going  to  the  expense  of  properly  leveling 
the  ground  and  cultivation,  if  he  must  first  meet  old 
charges  which  have  been  accumulated  during  several 
years.  To  be  able  to  meet  them,  they  must  be  dis- 
tributed over  a  term  of  years. 

On  the  one  hand,  the  threat  of  accumulation  of  the 
charges  is  assumed  to  act  as  a  stimulus  to  the  owner  of 
the  land  to  put  it  into  cultivation  at  an  early  date.  If 
he  does  not  do  this,  then  the  accumulation  soon  becomes 
a  burden,  such  that  he  cannot  dispose  of  the  land  to  others 
or  utilize  it  himself  to  advantage. 

Time  of  Payment. — Experience  has  shown  that  through- 
out the  United  States  the  proper  time  to  insist  upon  the 
payment  of  any  debt  by  a  farmer  is  when  he  is  selling  his 
crop,  and  that  this  time  is  usually  late  in  the  fall  or  during 
the  winter  season.  At  that  period  only  does  he  usually 
have  funds  to  meet  his  bills.  It  has  become  the  custom 

203 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

at  that  season  to  collect  taxes.  Merchants  then  find 
that  they  are  able  to  collect  in  whole  or  part  the  debts 
which  are  due  to  them.  It  is  wise  to  fall  in  with  the 
general  custom,  to  send  out  bills  at  about  the  time  the 
crops  are  being  gathered  and  press  for  payment  continu- 
ally with  other  claimants  at  the  time  when  crops  are 
being  sold. 

It  has  been  urged,  however,  that  if  pressure  is  applied 
too  early  in  the  winter,  the  farmer  will  be  forced  to  sell 
his  crops  in  competition  with  his  neighbors  and  at  a 
loss,  while  if  he  can  carry  some  of  them,  particularly 
his  hay  and  potatoes,  till  later  in  the  winter,  he  .can 
probably  obtain  a  larger  price.  While  this  is  occasionally 
the  case,  there  is  an  element  of  risk  about  it;  instances 
are  numerous  where  the  prices  did  not  rise  in  the  late  win- 
ter or  early  spring,  but  on  the  contrary  declined,  and  the 
farmer  who  held  his  crops  was  finally  forced  to  dispose 
of  them  at  a  lower  price  than  he  could  have  obtained 
earlier  in  the  year.  In  any  event,  it  is  seen  that  the 
attempt  to  make  collection  in  the  spring  is  usually  not 
a  success  because  at  that  time  the  farmer  has  paid 
such  of  his  debts  as  he  must;  he  is  fortunate  if  he  has 
enough  capital  left  to  procure  the  necessary  seed  and 
to  make  arrangements  for  getting  his  land  in  best  con- 
dition for  cultivation. 

VALUATION 

The  ability  to  secure  repayment  of  the  original  cost 
of  the  works  and  of  the  expenditures  for  operation  and 
maintenance  measures  the  value  of  an  irrigation  system. 
It  is  the  principal  business  of  the  manager  to  obtain 
these  returns  and  to  see  to  it  that  by  the  exercise  of 
every  possible  precaution  the  canals  under  his  charge 

204 


METAL  FLUME  FOB  CONVEYING  WATER.  ACROSS  DEPRESSION  ON 
BOISE  PROJECT,  IDAHO. 


CONCRETE  FLUME  ON  INTERESTATE  CANAL  ACROSS  SPRING  CANYON, 
EASTERN  WYOMING 


RECEIPTS  AND  VALUES 

are  rendered  profitable.  It  does  not  necessarily  follow 
that  these  profits  take  the  form  of  immediate  money 
returns,  for  in  the  cases  where  the  landowners  and 
irrigators  are  themselves  the  proprietors  of  the  system 
or  where  it  is  owned  by  the  general  public,  the  returns 
may  be  in  the  form  of  increased  crop  production,  and 
while  the  investment  in  the  canal  itself  may  be  appar- 
ently lost,  the  values  created  by  it  will  compensate  for 
the  outlay  for  construction.  Under  such  conditions  the 
manager  for  his  own  protection  at  least  should  collect 
statistics  or  have  available  such  information  regarding 
the  lands  and  properties  benefited  by  the  canal  as  will 
demonstrate  the  fact  that  it  is  bringing  about  an  in- 
crease in  productivity. 

It  is  highly  important  that  each  year  or  at  other 
regular  intervals  the  true  value  of  each  irrigation  system 
be  ascertained.  This  is  needed  to  round  out  and  com- 
plete the  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  owners  as  to 
where  they  stand  with  reference  to  the  investment. 
The  fact  that  in  some  cases  the  Government  or  public 
may  own  the  canal  adds  rather  than  detracts  from  the 
importance  of  such  estimate  or  inventory.  The  valua- 
tion of  railroads  and  other  public  utilities  is  now  being 
undertaken,  and  the  underlying  principles  are  being 
widely  discussed.  Little,  however,  has  been  done  on 
the  valuation  of  irrigation  systems.  In  a  few  cases  the 
Government  has  had  occasion  to  purchase  such  systems, 
mainly  bankrupt,  and  which  were  needed  as  parts  of 
a  larger  or  more  comprehensive  scheme. 

In  the  case  of  irrigation  canals  or  similar  works  pur- 
chased by  the  Government,  consideration  was  given 
to  each  of  various  methods  of  ascertaining  the  value. 
Of  these  methods,  three  were  prominent: 

205 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

First,  the  original  cost; 

Second,  the  value  based  upon  earning  power; 

Third,  cost  of  reproduction. 

The  owners  in  each  case  made  strenuous  plea  for 
payment  of  the  original  cost,  but  it  was  quickly  seen 
that  much  of  the  original  cost  consisted  of  expenditures 
for  promotion  or  for  works  such  as  dams  and  headgates 
which  had  been  swept  out  of  existence  by  floods.  In 
one  case,  for  example,  the  purely  legitimate  expenditures 
had  been  over  $1,000,000,  but  it  was  obvious  that  any 
such  sum  would  be  out  of  the  question,  and  the  amount 
agreed  upon  was  about  one-fourth  of  this. 

It  was  equally  impracticable  to  fix  any  sum  based 
upon  earning  power,  as  most  canals  under  consideration 
were  costing  for  maintenance  far  more  than  the  annual 
receipts.  If  this  had  been  used  as  a  basis  it  would  have 
had  a  negative  value  and  the  owners  should  have  been 
glad  to  pay  something  to  any  one  who  would  relieve 
them  of  the  ownership  and  consequently  of  the  duty  of 
supplying  water. 

The  third  plan  was  finally  adopted,  namely,  to  pay  the 
reproduction  value  of  such  portions  of  the  irrigating 
system  as  could  be  utilized  in  the  new  work.  While 
this  may  be  open  to  objections  in  many  cases,  yet  the 
irrigation  manager  in  considering  the  value  of  the  prop- 
erty and  its  earning  power  may  safely  estimate  on  the 
cost  of  reproduction,  writing  off  to  profit  and  loss  the 
expenditures  for  works  which  have  been  put  out  of 
use. 

There  is  need  of  the  adoption  of  some  well-considered 
rules  for  valuation  of  irrigation  property,  so  that  com- 
parison may  be  made  between  the  irrigation  works  con- 
ducted under  various  conditions.  When  this  is  done, 

206 


RECEIPTS  AND  VALUES 

the  managers,  as  well  as  the  people  interested  in  service 
from  the  canal,  can  begin  to  discuss  intelligently  the 
efficiency  and  economy  of  service  rendered  and  the 
necessity  or  fairness  of  the  accounts  charged  for  delivering 
water. 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE  IRRIGATOR  AND   HIS   ASSOCIATIONS 

Irrigators'  Success. — The  success  of  the  irrigators  is 
at  the  bottom  of  the  success  of  the  irrigation  project. 
Unless  the  average  man  on  the  land  is  able  to  make 
not  merely  a  living,  but  also  to  accumulate  gradually  a 
competence  for  his  old  age,  it  is  obvious  that  the  efforts 
made  in  the  reclamation  of  the  land  cannot  be  con- 
sidered as  successful.  It  is  not  only  necessary  that 
he  be  reasonably  prosperous  in  a  financial  way,  but 
more  than  this,  that  he  be  contented,  have  a  feeling 
that  he  is  making  progress  and  that  he  is  as  well  off, 
if  not  better,  than  his  fellowmen  in  other  occupations. 
Success  is  to  be  measured  not  merely  by  the  question 
of  money  returns,  but  even  more  than  that  by  contentment 
or  by  the  mental  attitude  of  the  man  and  his  family 
toward  the  farm  and  home.  Even  though  it  appears 
that  a  living  has  been  made,  accompanied  by  gradually 
increasing  property  value,  yet,  if,  at  the  same  time, 
the  children  are  discontented  and  are  longing  to  leave 
the  farm,  it  follows  that  the  work  can  hardly  be  claimed 
to  have  been  a  complete  success. 

From  the  manager's  standpoint  also  it  is  essential  that 
there  be  a  continual  appreciation  of  the  opportunities 
offered  and  willingness  on  the  part  of  the  majority  of 
irrigators  to  cooperate  with  him  and  with  each  other, 
in  ways  such  as  are  now  recognized  as  being  essential 

208 


THE  IRRIGATOR  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATIONS 

for  the  best  development  of  an  agricultural  community. 
Cooperation  is  founded  primarily  upon  mutual  confi- 
dence and  upon  an  expectation  of  realizing  beneficial 
results.  The  conditions  on  an  irrigation  project  are 
not  like  those  in  a  factory,  or  in  ordinary  industrial  organ- 
izations, where  the  manager  can  displace  the  unsuccess- 
ful workman  and  substitute  a  man  better  equipped  for 
the  particular  operation.  On  the  contrary,  the  individual 
farmers  as  landowners  are  fixed  in  their  places  and  if 
not  successful  cannot  be  immediately  replaced  by  better 
equipped  men.  It  takes  time  and  a  considerable  amount 
of  actual  hardship  to  the  unfit  individual  and  his  family 
before  he  realizes  that  he  is  unsuited  to  the  task  and  before 
he  is  willing  to  sell  out  to  some  man  who  is  better  quali- 
fied as  an  irrigator.  Changes  take  place  on  every  pro- 
ject, but  these  are  slow,  far  slower  than  is  the  accumu- 
lation of  difficulties  and  expense  due  to  the  presence 
of  a  number  of  unsuccessful  farmers.  In  other  words, 
the  irrigator  is  a  relatively  fixed  factor  and  the  irrigation 
system  deteriorates  more  rapidly  and  the  expense  of  opera- 
tion and  maintenance  accumulates  at  a  faster  rate  than 
the  population  adjusts  itself  to  the  existing  conditions. 

Pioneering. — The  development  of  the  arid  West  is 
accompanied  by  many  of  the  difficulties  and  discomforts 
which  are  inseparable  from  pioneering.  It  is  unfor- 
tunate that  in  recent  years  many  of  the  persons  who 
have  been  attracted  to  the  reclaimed  area  have  come 
with  an  exaggerated  idea  of  the  ease  of  cultivating  and 
producing  crops.  They  have  been  drawn  by  stories 
of  success  which,  to  say  the  least,  have  not  been  accom- 
panied by  the  disagreeable  side,  and  have  been  allured 
from  their  old  homes  by  the  hope  of  being  free  from 
many  of  its  discomforts  or  disadvantages,  not  realizing 

209 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

that  each  locality  has  its  own  peculiar  difficulties  which 
must  be  overcome  and  that  nowhere,  and  especially  in 
a  new  country,  can  a  living  be  had  without  considerable 
hard  work  and  self-denial. 

The  newcomer  to  an  irrigated  area,  especially  one 
where  the  works  have  been  recently  constructed  or  are 
only  partly  completed,  finds  that  everything  is  yet  to 
be  done.  The  land  must  be  leveled  in  order  that  water 
may  flow  freely  over  the  surface,  the  small  distributing 
ditches  must  be  provided,  and  more  than  this,  after 
the  ground  has  been  prepared  for  irrigation,  it  must  usually 
be  supplied  with  some  lacking  elements  of  plant  food, 
especially  with  such  as  are  usually  rare  in  the  arid  region 
and  which  are  grouped  under  the  name  of  humus. 
While  many  of  the  arid  soils  have  certain  elements  of 
richness,  yet  nearly  all  of  them  require  some  building 
up  in  order  to  bring  them  to  a  state  of  high  productivity. 
More  than  this,  continued  efforts  must  be  made  to  main- 
tain and  increase  this  ability  to  produce  crops.  There 
should  be  a  continual  study  of  crop  rotation  and  the  selec- 
tion of  the  crops  which  are  not  only  best  adapted  for  the 
soil  but  which  will  find  a  ready  market. 

The  pioneer  also  has  to  build  a  house  for  his  family 
and  a  shelter  for  his  stock,  fence  the  land,  and  make 
other  improvements,  so  that  while  the  cost  of  water  may 
be  forty  to  fifty  dollars  per  acre,  or  even  more,  he  finds 
it  necessary  to  invest  an  equivalent  or  even  larger 
amount  in  getting  the  farm  into  shape  for  maximum 
production.  If  he  has  been  so  unfortunate  as  to  acquire 
an  area  larger  than  he  can  properly  handle,  he  is  apt  to 
become  discouraged  or  attempt  to  spread  his  efforts  over 
too  large  an  extent  of  land  to  secure  the  best  results. 

Land  Poverty. — The  attempt  of  the  newcomer  to  obtain 

210 


THE  IRRIGATOR  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATIONS 

and  hold  a  large  area  of  irrigated  land  has  been  more 
destructive  to  his  success  than  any  other  one  cause  of 
failure.  There  is  an  overwhelming  desire  on  the  part 
of  the  pioneer  to  acquire  and  hold  as  large  an  area  of  good 
land  as  he  can  obtain.  There  is  a  vast  area  to  be  had; 
there  is  a  golden  opportunity  and  the  newcomer  is  strongly 
tempted  to  buy  or  agree  to  purchase  or  to  enter  upon 
more  land  than  he  really  believes  can  be  put  to  immediate 
and  profitable  use  by  his  own  efforts.  But  he  reasons 
that  as  the  country  is  developed,  there  will  be  a  rapid 
rise  in  values,  as  has  happened  in  the  past  and  he  can 
then  sell  some  of  this  extra  land  to  advantage;  or  he 
has  a  growing  family  and  while  the  land  is  on  the  market 
he  should  get  enough  for  all  possible  future  contingencies. 

Here  is  where  he  makes  his  fatal  mistake.  His  antici- 
pation of  rapid  increase  in  prices  is  not  always  fulfilled, 
but  on  the  contrary,  after  the  lands  have  been  disposed 
of  and  the  first  rush  to  the  newly  irrigated  area  is  over, 
there  is  usually  a  set-back  and  the  prices  which  have  been 
inflated  drop  to  more  normal  condition.  This  occurs 
largely  because  of  the  fact  that  the  newcomers  begin 
to  appreciate  the  difficulties  of  putting  the  land  in  good 
condition  and  find  that  far  more  capital  is  required  than 
anticipated.  Many  of  them  endeavor  at  about  the  same 
time  to  unload  some  of  the  lands  which  they  obtained 
at  "  boom  "  rates  and  which,  unfortunately  for  them, 
cannot  be  sold  except  at  a  lower  rate. 

Acting  under  the  impulses  above  described,  however, 
many  a  man  has  attempted  to  obtain  and  hold,  say. 
160  acres,  while  possessing  strength  and  capital  adequate 
only  for  about  40  acres.  Usually  the  inexperienced  irri- 
gator  attempts  enthusiastically  to  spread  his  energies 
over  the  entire  tract.  He  does  not  handle  any  part 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

of  it  in  the  proper  manner  to  produce  the  best  crops; 
hence,  the  average  crop  production  is  small,  the  costs 
of  water,  of  operating  and  maintaining  the  canal  system 
and  also  the  taxes  on  this  large  area  quickly  eat  up  his 
accumulated  capital  and  discourage  him. 

In  contrast  to  the  above-noted  condition,  if  the  new 
farmer  had  confined  the  same  efforts  to  say  40  acres 
instead  of  160  acres,  in  a  few  years  he  might  have  reached 
a  condition  where  he  could  then  acquire  larger  areas  and 
select  these  on  the  basis  of  the  experience  already  had. 
The  40-acre  man,  at  the  end  of  five  or  six  years,  is  apt 
to  be  in  a  position  to  expand  his  holdings  and  to  acquire 
lands  from  his  less  successful  neighbors,  namely,  the  man 
who  started  in  with  160  acres  of  irrigated  land.  Instead 
of  the  160-acre  tract  increasing  in  value,  it  is  usual 
that  the  price  which  is  offered  after  the  first  few  years 
of  effort  is  as  low  if  not  lower  than  the  mortgage  which 
usually  rests  upon  lands  acquired  in  this  way. 

These  conditions  are  thus  brought  forcibly  to  the 
attention  of  the  manager,  who  must  listen  to  many  piti- 
able tales  where  men  have  loaded  themselves  with  more 
land  than  they  can  handle,  who  are  struggling  to  hold 
this  land,  not  realizing  that  they  have  already  lost  their 
equity  in  it  and  that  every  year  of  continued  effort  is 
simply  reducing  the  chances  of  success  and  is  a  year 
lost  in  their  lives.  These  cases  appeal  strongly  to  the 
manager  because  he  must  see  to  it  that  the  collections 
are  made  partly  on  building  charge  and  certainly  for 
the  operation  and  maintenance.  His  sympathies  are 
appealed  to  in  every  direction,  although  his  memory 
and  reasoning  power  show  him  that  the  unfortunate 
conditions  which  have  resulted  have  been  due  to  mis- 
taken judgment  in  attempting  to  hold  more  land,  rather 


THE  IRRIGATOR  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATIONS 

than  to  any  defect  in  the  land  itself  or  the  system  of 
irrigation. 

New  Projects. — The  new  projects  and  the  new  settlers 
offer  to  the  manager  problems  quite  distinct  from  those 
which  are  presented  on  the  older  projects  where  knowl- 
edge has  been  obtained  by  practical  experience  in  hand- 
ling the  soil,  and  in  marketing  crops.  On  these  new 
projects,  everything  is  yet  to  be  discovered;  for  success 
managers  are  required  of  perhaps  more  ability  and 
experience  than  those  who  are  carrying  on  the  work  in 
older  and  better  established  localities.  There  is  an 
innumerable  number  of  precedents  to  be  set  which, 
if  laid  down  with  full  knowledge  of  the  conditions  which 
will  follow,  may,  on  the  one  hand,  result  in  continued, 
prosperous  growth;  on  the  other  hand  habits  may 
be  easily  established  which  may  require  years  of  effort 
to  overcome.  For  example,  in  the  matter  of  distribut- 
ing the  water,  at  the  outset,  when  water  is  plentiful  and 
only  a  small  proportion  of  the  land  has  been  cultivated, 
the  manager  in  his  desire  to  be  obliging  may  permit 
every  man  to  take  all  of  the  water  he  desires,  when- 
ever he  sees  fit.  Under  this  condition  the  settlers  quickly 
acquire  the  habit  of  demanding  the  water  without  refer- 
ence to  the  needs  of  their  neighbors  or  to  the  capacity 
of  the  canal.  In  a  few  months,  they  get  into  the  attitude 
of  believing  that  it  is  their  right  to  be  served  in  this  way 
and  feel  that  they  are  being  defrauded  unless  the  manager 
is  able  to  meet  their  convenience. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  with  increased  area  under 
cultivation  accompanied  by  larger  demands  for  water, 
the  manager  soon  finds  it  necessary  to  establish  a  regular 
schedule  of  rotation  and  also  discovers  that  the  liberal 
use  of  water  is  threatening  to  swamp  some  of  the  lands. 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

He  thus  is  in  a  position  of  trying  to  bring  it  out  a  syc- 
tematic  delivery  of  the  water  and  its  limitation  to  the 
amount  actually  needed  by  the  lands,  while  under  the 
difficulty  of  correcting  the  bad  habit  so  quickly  acquired. 
Under  these  conditions  he  is  greatly  embarrassed  because 
the  needs  of  the  entire  system  must  necessarily  inter- 
fere with  individual  license  in  taking  water. 

The  Farmer's  Home. — The  success  of  agriculture  under 
irrigation,  notably  in  the  hotter  parts  of  the  arid  region, 
is  closely  connected  with  the  securing  of  a  suitable  home 
for  the  family.  This  is  especially  the  case  in  southern 
Arizona  and  adjacent  parts  of  the  West,  where  during 
the  long  heat  of  the  summer,  the  comfort  and  even  the 
health  of  the  newcomer  is  largely  dependent  upon  the 
adoption  of  some  form  of  house  designed  for  relief  from 
extremes  during  these  hot  days.  The  natives  in  these 
regions  have  worked  out  the  problem,  as  many  of  them 
came  originally  from  parts  of  Spain  where  through  cen- 
turies of  experience  there  had  been  developed  the  thick- 
walled  house  with  inner  rooms,  dark  and  cool  during 
the  long  hot  summer  days.  These  people  have  learned 
to  retire  at  noon  to  these  inner  chambers  and  sleep  during 
the  extreme  heat  of  noontide,  thus  being  fresh  for  labor 
in  the  cool  of  the  evening  and  again  in  the  early  morning. 

In  contrast  to  this  the  newcomers  from  more  humid 
and  cooler  regions  construct  houses  of  thin  boards,  some- 
times even  with  black  iron  or  paper  roofs,  which  be- 
come so  intensely  hot  during  the  day  that  it  is  impossible 
to  stay  in  them.  Consequently  to  obtain  needed  rest 
they  sleep  late  in  the  cool  of  the  morning  and  at  a  time 
when  their  labor  would  be  of  most  value  to  the  farm. 
They  unthinkingly  try  to  adhere  to  the  hours  of  labor 
suitable  to  colder  climates. 


THE  IRRIGATOR  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATIONS 

Under  these  conditions  the  families  cannot  remain 
on  the  farms  with  comfort,  at  least  while  the  extreme 
heat  of  summer  continues  and  at  the  crop  period  when 
labor  is  most  needed.  It  is  therefore  one  of  the  needs  of 
the  Southwest  to  build  adobe  or  similar  thick-walled 
houses  in  which  the  family  can  find  a  cool  retreat  during 
the  extreme  heat  of  the  day  and  be  ready  to  work  during 
the  cooler  hours.  In  one  of  these  board  houses  the  tem- 
perature may  run  up  to  110°  while  in  a  neighboring 
thickwalled  adobe  in  the  inner  recesses  the  temperature 
has  been  as  low  as  80°.  A  person  is  able  to  sleep  with 
comfort  under  the  latter  conditions  whereas  in  the  more 
common  type  of  house,  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  any 
rest. 

ORGANIZATIONS 

Effective  cooperation  is  essential  to  the  success  of  a 
community  of  irrigators,  even  more  than  with  any  other 
body  of  farmers.  One  of  the  first  duties  of  a  manager 
on  a  new  project  is  to  see  to  it,  as  far  as  lies  within  his 
power,  that  organizations  of  the  irrigators  are  formed  for 
the  promotion  of  mutual  interests.  In  such  matters, 
however,  it  is  wise  for  him  to  keep  in  the  background, 
while  at  the  same  time  doing  everything  possible  to 
stimulate  others  to  take  an  active  part  and  to  work  for 
the  common  good. 

The  organizations  which  are  primarily  needed  are 
those  which  will  induce  the  individual  irrigators  to  con- 
sider the  best  methods  of  cultivating  the  soil,  the  best 
crops  to  be  raised,  and  the  ways  of  handling  these  crops 
to  get  them  to  the  markets — also  of  purchasing  needed 
supplies  or  securing  credit.  It  has  been  frequently  said 
that  the  pioneer  farmer,  acting  individually,  pays  the 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

highest   price   for   the    commodities   needed   by   him — 
including  credit — and  sells  in  the  lowest  market. 

This  condition  is  due  to  the  fact  that  acting  individ- 
ually the  farmer  is  to  a  certain  extent  in  competition  with 
his  neighbors.  When  he  goes  to  the  bank  to  borrow 
money,  he  has  only  his  own  personal  credit  behind  the 
loan,  as  it  often  happens  that  his  farm  is  not  available 
as  an  asset  in  borrowing  money.  In  taking  his  produce 
to  the  local  market,  he  is  usually  offering  it  to  a  group 
of  men  who  are  acting  more  or  less  in  concert  and  who 
have  an  understanding  as  to  the  rates  at  which  they  will 
purchase  the  crops  of  the  individual  producers.  In 
other  older-settled  countries,  this  condition  has  long 
been  known  and  carefully  studied,  with  the  result  that  the 
individuals  have  found  that  they  can  combine  for  mutual 
protection  and  benefit,  cooperating  in  the  form  of 
various  volunteer  organizations  through  which,  instead 
of  paying  the  highest  price  for  seed  or  for  plows,  they 
purchase  these  wholesale  and  obtain  through  competi- 
tion among  the  sellers  the  most  reasonable  rates. 

In  the  same  way,  when  offering  their  produce  for  sale, 
instead  of  bringing  it  to  a  market  which  is  practically 
fixed  by  a  group  of  men,  the  producers  themselves, 
uniting  in  the  handling  of  the  crops  of  a  community, 
are  able  to  secure  competition  from  buyers  which  enables 
them  to  obtain  the  highest  price.  This  is  true  also  of 
buying  the  use  of  money.  By  united  effort  and  by 
putting  the  unlimited  credit  of  a  group  of  individuals 
behind  the  need,  money  can  be  had  from  a  wider  range 
of  markets  than  that  offered  locally  and  at  conditions 
and  on  terms  which  are  more  favorable  than  those 
which  could  be  enjoyed  by  the  individual  acting  alone. 
The  deplorable  results  of  lack  of  cooperation  are 
216 


THE  IRRIGATOR  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATIONS 

notable  in  the  localities  where  as  yet  the  irrigates 
have  not  become  accustomed  to  work  together  and 
where  individualism  has  been  carried  to  an  extreme. 
Under  these  conditions,  the  project  manager  acting 
through  or  with  the  more  progressive  men  of  the  com- 
munity can  aid  in  improving  conditions  by  diffusing 
information  regarding  the  results  of  cooperation  elsewhere 
and  by  assisting,  in  a  minor  capacity  always,  in  the 
formation  of  committees  in  discussing  the  lines  upon 
which  progress  may  be  made. 

In  earlier  years  there  was  not  the  present  difficulty 
of  securing  organization  among  the  water  users  in  a 
given  district  as  the  then  existing  conditions  forced 
upon  the  pioneers  a  mutual  aid  far  greater  than  is  required 
under  existing  situations.  The  very  life  of  these  early 
communities  demanded  such  mutual  assistance.  The 
people  settling  along  a  stream  in  an  arid  region  were 
bound  together  by  ties  of  friendship  or  former  neighbor- 
hood association.  The  common  difficulties  and  dangers 
brought  about  a  high  degree  of  mutual  protection  and 
the  communities  in  which  effective  cooperation  did  not 
exist  in  some  form  were  soon  wiped  out.  The  small 
irrigation  canals  were  thus  built  and  operated  by  coop- 
erative effort,  success  being  dependent  upon  each  man's 
doing  his  share. 

Later,  when  the  irrigation  works  were  constructed 
by  outside  capital  or  by  the  Government  and  settlers 
were  attracted  from  all  parts  of  the  earth,  there  was 
not  possible  at  the  outset  the  same  degree  of  community 
life.  The  result  has  been  a  more  complete  individualism, 
which,  beneficial  in  some  localities,  has  been  injurious 
in  others.  Under  the  older  systems  it  was  usual  for 
each  small  group  of  irrigators  to  appoint  its  own  water- 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

master,  who  saw  to  it  that  water  was  turned  to  the 
fields  of  the  various  owners.  Under  the  larger  corporate 
system,  however,  the  farmers  on  an  irrigation  lateral 
are  not  neighbors  in  the  full  sense  of  the  term.  They 
do  not  have  the  same  interest  in  each  other's  success 
and  it  has  rarely  been  possible  for  them  to  associate  in 
distributing  water  fairly  among  themselves.  It  may  take 
a  generation  for  them  to  learn  those  lessons  of  mutual 
respect  and  forbearance  in  water  distribution  which  the 
older  pioneers  were  forced  to  adopt  in  face  of  failure. 

From  this  it  results  that  in  the  large  irrigation  sys- 
tems built  by  private  capital  or  by  the  Government, 
the  method  of  distribution  of  water  must  be  quite  dif- 
ferent from  that  practiced  by  the  cooperative  irrigators. 
The  water  must  be  taken  to  each  man's  farm  because 
if  left  to  be  distributed  among  a  small  group  there  is 
always  complaint  that  the  man  at  the  end  of  the  lateral 
or  the  weaker  member  of  the  community  does  not  get 
his  share.  It  is  necessary  to  have  some  one  strong 
central  authority  to  whom  this  man  can  appeal  as 
against  the  propensities  of  his  neighbors  to  take  his 
share  of  the  water. 

Water  Users'  Associations. — Among  the  most  important 
organizations  which  should  be  perfected  on  any  new 
project  is  that  of  all  of  the  water  users,  in  the  form 
of  a  corporation  under  general  state  law,  or  of  an  irri- 
gation district  created  under  special  statutes.  These 
organizations  should  ultimately  maintain  and  control 
the  works  and  see  to  the  fair  distribution  of  the  water. 
The  sooner  they  are  started,  the  better  for  all  con- 
cerned, as  it  is  inevitable  that  some  mistakes  must  be 
made  at  first  and  the  earlier  these  are  made  on  a  small 
scale,  the  quicker  will  successful  results  ensue. 

218 


THE  IRRIGATOR  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATIONS 

The  original  water  users'  associations  on  reclamation 
projects  built  by  the  Government  were  formed  for  the 
purpose  of  insuring  to  the  United  States  the  returns  on 
the  investment  in  irrigation  works  which  are  of  benefit 
to  the  private  lands  included  in  those  projects.  The 
formation  of  such  associations  was  not  encouraged  in 
cases  where  the  greater  portion  of  the  land  was  in  public 
ownership,  and  was  taken  up  under  the  terms  of  the 
Reclamation  Act. 

The  first  association  was  on  the  Salt  River  project, 
Arizona,  and  the  forms  of  articles  of  incorporation, 
by-laws  and  of  the  contract  then  adopted  served  as  a 
model  for  the  other  projects.  As  experience  has  been 
acquired,  these  original  contracts  have  been  modified 
from  time  to  time  until  now  they  are  greatly  simplified 
from  their  original  form.  The  Government  officials 
followed  the  precedent  thus  established,  until  it  became 
apparent  that  the  associations  were  not  fully  carrying 
out  their  original  object;  then  an  effort  was  made  to 
accomplish  the  desired  results  by  substituting  a  trust 
deed  instead  of  a  water  users'  association. 

The  objections  to  an  association  during  the  early  stages 
of  a  project  are  based  largely  on  the  fact  that  it  is  an 
expensive  and  cumbersome  organization  without  any 
immediate  duties.  As  a  result,  few  of  the  busy  men  on 
the  project  attend  the  meetings  and  affairs  are  left  to 
a  minority. of  relatively  inexperienced  persons.  Having 
nothing  particular  to  do  and  with  the  large  machinery 
of  the  association  at  their  command,  the  energies  of  those 
in  charge  are  often  devoted  to  irrelevant  discussion 
rather  than  to  constructive  effort.  The  tendency  has 
been  for  similar  organizations  to  enter  upon  debates 
and  to  fall  into  the  control  of  a  small  clique  of  men 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

eager  to  take  up  new  theories  of  finance,  but  slow  to 
assist  in  a  constructive  program. 

One  argument  in  favor  of  these  water  users'  associations 
in  addition  to  that  of  securing  the  debt  to  the  Govern- 
ment, is  that  they  should  be  representative  of  all  of  the 
people  and  active  in  promoting  the  general  welfare. 
This  is  a  condition  which  has  been  hoped  for,  but  not 
always  realized.  As  stated  above,  the  successful  farmer 
is  too  busy  to  take  time  to  go  to  town  for  the  frequent 
meetings  of  the  association.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
less  active  man,  who  is  frequently  found  at  the  village 
store,  is  constant  in  attendance. 

Much  time  and  effort  are  required  to  develop  in  the 
minds  of  the  officers  or  directors  of  these  new  water 
users'  association  the  fact  that  they  must  be  guided 
by  a  broad  public  spirit  such  as  will  lead  them  to  view 
the  operations  of  the  association  with  reference  to  the 
greatest  good  to  the  entire  community.  A  more  altru- 
istic spirit  must  be  cultivated  in  order  to  enable  these 
associations  to  carry  on  successfully  the  work  for  which 
they  are  organized. 

With  added  experience  and  with  progress  of  time,  there 
usually  comes  a  larger  conception  of  the  needs  and  op- 
portunities of  the  community  as  a  whole,  and  there  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  by  the  time  the  lands  on  the 
larger  projects  are  well  tilled  a  class  of  men  will  be 
developed  who  can  and  will  devote  their  time  unself- 
ishly to  the  interests  of  the  public.  In  this  as  in  all 
matters  of  democratic  government,  the  chief  difficulty  is 
to  get  the  right  man  in  the  right  place,  and  to  give  him 
sufficient  authority  to  enable  him  to  carry  out  in  a  broad 
way  the  interests  of  all  rather  than  of  any  special  group 
of  individuals. 

220 


THE  IRRIGATOR  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATIONS 

Cooperative  Organizations. — In  addition  to  the  water 
users'  association  on  each  project,  it  is  usually  desirable 
to  promote  other  organizations  for  special  purposes,  such 
as  the  marketing  of  potatoes  and  of  alfalfa,  or  the  ob- 
taining of  credit  and  improving  the  conditions  on  the 
farm.  At  first,  it  was  thought  that  the  water  users' 
association  might  properly  perform  all  of  these  functions, 
but  experience  is  showing  that  as  a  rule,  it  is  better  to 
organize  separate  societies  rather  than  attempt  to  have 
all  of  these  various  functions  performed  through  one 
office  or  set  of  men.  For  example,  the  potato  growers 
on  the  project  can  probably  handle  their  business  better 
through  their  own  organization,  uniting  with  potato 
growers  in  other  parts  of  the  state.  In  the  same  way  the 
men  producing  apples,  organizing  an  association  of  men 
composed  of  specialists  in  this  line,  are  better  qualified 
to  select  their  own  agents  and  direct  this  particular 
activity  than  is  a  larger  group  of  people  representing  a 
variety  of  interests.  In  the  same  way,  the  dairy  associ- 
ation finds  that  its  business  can  best  be  conducted  through 
an  organization  independent  of  the  water  users  as  a 
whole. 

There  is  also  a  certain  advantage  in  this  specialization 
of  the  organizations  in  that  it  distributes  the  offices  and 
responsibilities  and  arouses  a  more  general  interest 
than  is  the  case  when  one  organization,  with  a  certain 
set  of  officers,  is  attempting  to  go  into  so  many  different 
lines  of  business,  success  in  any  one  of  which  demands 
men  of  highly  specialized  training. 

The  water  users'  association  might  very  properly  pro- 
vide a  building  or  headquarters  for  the  agents  of  the 
various  organizations  and  places  in  which  to  hold  the 
meetings,  but  the  actual  transaction  of  the  business  itself 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

as  above  stated,  can  usually  be  done  best  by  organiza- 
tion more  or  less  independent  of  the  water  users'  associ- 
ation, but  closely  connected  with  similar  lines  of  activity 
on  adjacent  projects. 

As  before  stated,  however,  it  is  part  of  the  business  of 
a  manager  of  any  project  to  keep  in  touch  with  all  such 
movements  and  to  do  what  he  can  individually  to  stimu- 
late and  assist  them,  without  at  the  same  time  offering 
assistance  in  such  a  way  as  to  paralyze  the  efforts  or 
reduce  the  activities  of  men  whose  personal  devotion  to 
the  cause  in  hand  is  so  essential  to  success. 

FARM   MANAGEMENT 

There  is  no  one  line  of  agriculture  in  which  carefully 
planned,  scientific  farm  management  is  more  productive 
of  large  results  than  in  irrigation,  where  the  farmer  en- 
joying sunshine  during  the  greater  part  of  the  daytime 
throughout  the  year,  can  control  the  amount  of  water 
and  thus  have  available  those  elements  which  go  to  insure 
crop  production,  namely,  sunshine  and  moisture.  The 
business  of  farm  management  is  being  now  more  generally 
recognized  as  a  science  and  textbooks  and  reports  have 
been  prepared  on  the  subject  showing  the  elementary 
features  as  well  as  the  detailed  practice  in  various  lines 
of  effort.1 

The  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  in  par- 
ticular has  issued  among  other  bulletins  one  entitled, 
"  What  is  Farm  Management,"  by  W.  J.  Spillman,  agri- 
culturist in  charge  of  the  Office  of  Farm  Management. 

In  this,  farming  as  a  business  is  treated  in  concise  form. 

1  Notably  "Farm  Management,"  by  G.  T.  Warren,  Rural  Text 
Book  Series,  1913. 


THE  IRRIGATOR  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATIONS 

It  discusses,  for  example,  the  relative  desirability  of  farm- 
ing and  other  lines  of  business,  the  selection  of  the  farm, 
the  organization,  equipment,  and  the  farm  operation.  In 
this  connection,  the  irrigation  manager  is  chiefly  interested 
in  farm  administration  and  in  such  questions  as  the  sys- 
tem/ of  laying  out  the  work,  the  hiring  of  labor,  the  work 
schedule,  or  distribution  of  effort,  the  care  and  upkeep 
of  the  equipment,  the  bookkeeping  which  shows  how  these 
profit  and  losses  are  made,  the  purchasing  of  supplies, 
marketing  of  products,  and  in  general  the  efficiency  of 
the  management  by  the  owner  or  tenant. 

The  average  farmer  born  on  the  farm  has  acquired  cer- 
tain ideas  from  his  immediate  surroundings,  usually  those 
of  the  eastern  humid  country.  He  has  unconsciously 
acquired  definite  practices,  and  is  apt  to  think  that  he 
knows  all  about  farming  and  farm  management.  It  is  a 
revelation  to  him  to  discover  that  farming  is  a  business 
— and  like  all  other  businesses  is  capable  of  indefinite 
improvement  in  methods  and  results — and  that  there 
are  certain  well-established  rules  which  lead  to  success 
as  in  the  case  of  any  other  enterprise.  More  thr  n  this, 
he  is  often  surprised  to  learn  that  farming  re;  lly  re- 
quires a  larger  business  sense  and  experience  than  most 
other  industries.  It  is  far  more  complicated  and  the 
farmer,  to  obtain  the  largest  results,  must  not  be  merely 
a  producer  of  raw  material,  such  as  alfalfa  and  potatoes, 
but  he  must  to  a  certain  extent  work  these  up  into 
finished  products  as  in  the  case  of  any  other  manufac- 
turer. The  successful  farmer  must  continually  study  his 
markets,  be  prepared  to  meet  the  shifting  demands  and 
handle  his  goods  either  by  cooperation  with  his  neigh- 
bors or  in  other  ways  to  obtain  the  highest  prices.  All 
of  this  opens  out  wide  vistas  of  possibility  and  of 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

indefinite    progress    along    the    lines    leading    toward 
success. 

It  is  very  difficult  and  perhaps  impossible  to  convince 
the  old  farmers  of  some  of  these  facts,  but  with  the 
younger  men  and  the  larger  children  attending  school, 
it  is  possible  to  produce  an  impression.  There  grows  in 
their  mind  the  appreciation  of  the  fact  that  they  and 
their  parents  do  not  know  everything  there  is  to  be 
known  about  farming,  marketing  of  products,  -etc.,  but 
that  there  is  still  a  field  to  be  explored  and  one  which 
brings  not  merely  personal  reward  in  the  way  of  better 
prices,  but  an  absorbing  study  of  the  possibilities  and 
one  tending  to  relieve  the  monotony  of  the  daily  grind. 

When  once  it  is  fully  appreciated  that  through  carefully 
considered  farm  management,  it  is  possible  to  get  out  of 
the  daily  rut  and  not  merely  improve  conditions  but  secure 
personal  pleasure  or  gratification  in  daily  improvement, 
however  slight,  there  is  aroused  that  spirit  of  progress  and 
emulation  which  is  so  important  to  growth  in  any  business. 

The  success  of  the  irrigation  farmer  is  largely  de- 
pendent upon  his  knowledge  from  day  to  day  of  what 
his  crops  are  costing  and  what  are  their  true  values.  It 
is  well  known  that  the  ordinary  farmer  may  continue 
year  after  year  to  jaise  and  sell  crops  at  financial  loss, 
thus  gradually  eating  up  his  capital  or  getting  into 
debt  without  knowing  really  what  is  happening.  In 
the  highly  specialized  industry  of  intensive  farming 
under  irrigation  with  diversified  crop  production  and 
working  up  of  by-products  through  the  feeding  of 
animals,  the  owner  of  the  farm  must  know  where  his 
profits  lie  and  where  his  losses  occur.  This  cannot  be 
done  by  mere  general  knowledge  or  by  inference  any 
more  than  it  can  be  in  any  other  business. 


THE  IRRIGATOR  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATIONS 

Yearly  Business  Inventory. — The  importance  of  keep- 
ing records,  already  touched  upon,  can  hardly  be  over- 
emphasized. It  is  as  vital  for  success  to  the  farmer 
as  to  the  storekeeper  or  manufacturer.  These  records 
should  be  rounded  out  by  a  yearly  business  inventory. 
Even  though  the  farmer  keeps  little  cash  on  hand,  yet 
he  should  know  what  has  become  of  money  or  credit 
he  has  received.  In  the  usual  course  of  events,  the 
farmer  sells  some  product  and  immediately  buys  a  new 
implement  or  another  animal  or  repairs  his  buildings. 
During  the  course  of  the  year  he  may  receive  and  pay 
out  considerable  sums  of  money,  although  at  any  one  time 
or  at  the  end  of  the  year  he  has  practically  no  cash  on 
hand.  The  annual  returns  may  seem  to  have  consisted 
only  of  a  fair  living  for  himself  and  family;  if  he  looks 
only  to  cash  on  hand,  he  may  be  disappointed.  The 
balancing  of  his  books,  however,  with  a  carefully  made 
inventory,  may  show  a  good  profit.  On  the  other  hand, 
even  though  considerable  money  is  in  the  bank,  this 
may  be  only  an  off-set  to  the  depreciation  or  a  result 
of  reduction  of  his  net  investment. 

A  yearly  inventory  should  comprise  a  list,  with  values 
attached,  of  everything  used  in  the  farm  business,  in- 
cluding land,  buildings,  livestock,  machinery  and  tools 
— also  the  produce  on  hand  for  feed  or  sale  and  a  list 
of  all  bills  receivable  as  well  as  payable.  A  comparison 
of  the  inventory  of  the  preceding  year  to  which  has  been 
added  the  receipts  since  that  time,  with  the  outgo  de- 
ducted and  the  remainder  checked  up  against  the  in 
ventory,  brings  out  the  true  conditions  needed  for  the 
farmer's  guidance  and  encouragement. 

The  present  is  the  age  of  specialization.  Irrigation 
farming  is  perhaps  the  most  highly  specialized  of  agri- 

225 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

cultural  industries.  The  difference  between  the  farmer 
of  to-day  and  his  father  and  grandfather  is  that  he  now 
produces  principally  for  the  market,  while  a  generation 
or  more  ago  he  produced  mainly  for  home  consumption. 
The  successful  farmer  of  to-day  is  not  only  a  producer, 
but  also  a  manufacturer  of  raw  material,  and  a  mer- 
chant. He  must  thoroughly  understand  not  only  the 
production  side  of  the  business,  but  also  the  merchant- 
ing.  There  are  thus  three  matters  of  fundamental 
importance. 

First,  the  farmer  must  have  a  thorough  system  of 
records,  showing  him  how  he  stands  with  reference  to 
the  farm  and  the  cost  of  production. 

Second,  he  must  practice  the  methods  of  working  up 
the  raw  products  into  the  most  compact  and  salable 
form,  disposing  of  his  forage  "  in  the  hide  of  a  steer  or 
the  skin  of  a  hog." 

Third,  he  must  understand  enough  of  market  condi- 
tions to  be  able  to  dispose  of  his  product  at  the  right 
time,  or,  through  cooperation  with  his  neighbors,  under 
right  conditions  to  get  the  highest  prices. 

The  agricultural  colleges  and  farm  advisors  are  accom- 
plishing excellent  results  in  bringing  forward  this  side 
of  the  farmer's  work  and  are  teaching  both  by  direct 
instruction  and  by  correspondence  the  elements  of  farm 
accounting,  costkeeping,  and  business  organization. 
The  irrigation  manager  should  keep  in  touch  with  these 
and  aid  in  diffusing  a  better  knowledge  and  apprecia- 
tion of  such  efforts. 

Farm  Laborers. — The  question  of  the  farm  laborer 
is  one  of  the  most  difficult  in  the  irrigation  problem. 
The  size  of  the  irrigated  farm  is  more  largely  dictated 
by  the  difficulty  of  securing  adequate  farm  help  than 

226 


THE  IRRIGATOR  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATIONS 

by  any  other  one  factor.  It  is  not  possible  with  the 
relatively  small  profits  of  irrigated  farming  to  pay  large 
wages,  and  for  the  amount  which  can  be  paid  for  the 
laborer,  there  is  expected  from  him  a  range  of  experi- 
ence and  ability  and  an  amount  of  hard  work,  which  is 
rarely  to  be  found  in  any  other  occupation. 

It  is  frequently  assumed  that  the  farm  laborer  is 
unskilled ;  to  a  certain  extent  this  is  true,  but,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  effective  farm  laborer  has  a  large  amount 
of  information  and  experience  in  his  trade,  such  as  is 
not  to  be  had  in  the  ordinary  unskilled  labor  in  the  cities. 
In  the  latter  it  is  possible  to  pick  up  and  utilize  scores 
of  men  for  industrial  purposes,  organizing  them  in  gangs 
and  training  them  in  a  few  hours  to  work  together  in 
simple  matters  of  handling  a  shovel,  or  piling  up  bricks, 
the  same  operations  being  performed  hour  after  hour 
and  day  after  day  under  the  eyes  of  a  foreman.  In  the 
case  of  a  farm  laborer,  however,  this  is  entirely  differ- 
ent. There  must  be  a  large  amount  of  experience  pre- 
viously had  in  handling  animals  and  farm  tools,  and  while 
to  the  boys  who  have  been  born  and  brought  up  on  an 
American  farm  it  seems  as  though  the  work  was  extremely 
simple,  yet  to  the  farmer  wholly  unaccustomed  to  Amer- 
ican ways,  and  without  experience  with  animals  and 
machinery,  the  work  becomes  almost  impossible.  It  is 
extremely  difficult  and  unsatisfactory  to  attempt  to  teach 
a  grown  man  some  of  the  matters  which  are  so  easily 
picked  up  in  childhood  and  which  are  vital  to  the  suc- 
cess of  a  farmer. 

This  fact  is  rarely  appreciated  and  it  is  assumed  that 
any  one  of  the  great  hordes  of  men  out  of  work  in  the 
cities  could  be  utilized  to  advantage  in  the  field.  Experi- 
ence shows  that  such  men  when  brought  into  the  country, 

227 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

not  only  will  not  stay  there  but  are  wholly  unfitted  to 
country  life  and  to  meeting  the  hourly  emergencies  which 
arise  on  the  farm.  They  have  a  lack  of  what  the  Yan- 
kees term  "  gumption,"  and  must  be  told  each  thing  to 
do  and  how  to  meet  the  simple  occurrences  of  every- 
day life. 

DISILLUSION 

The  majority  of  newcomers  to  an  irrigated  district 
usually  come  with  exaggerated  ideas  as  to  the  comforts 
or  advantages  which  they  will  find  when  once  they  have 
settled  on  the  land.  This  condition  must  be  recognized 
and  suitable  allowance  made  for  the  resulting  reactions 
and  the  mental  disturbances  or  storms,  just  as  must  be 
done  for  natural  phenomenon,  whether  of  wind  or 
flood.  In  cases  when  men  come  on  a  project  a  few  at 
a  time,  the  inevitable  disillusionment  of  these  few  has 
no  general  effect  and  the  tactful  manager  is  usually  able 
to  take  each  individual  case  and  bring  about  a  better 
appreciation  of  the  opportunities.  But,  where  large 
groups  of  newcomers  arrive  in  a  body,  then  the  condi- 
tion becomes  more  serious. 

The  reason  for  such  disappointment  is  obvious.  It 
arises  from  the  fact  that  most  of  the  people  who  have 
come  have  been  attracted  by  advertisements  or  by 
statements  which  necessarily  have  dwelt  upon  the 
good  features,  even  exaggerating  these  and  the  benefits 
to  be  derived  by  changing  from  the  old  homes.  It  has 
not  always  been  possible  to  give  proper  weight  to  the 
discomfort  and  disadvantages  of  the  new  locations, 
because  these  are  not  as  apparent  to  the  man  who  has 
lived  on  an  irrigated  farm  as  they  are  to  the  man  from 
the  humid  region.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  picture 


THE  IRRIGATOR  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATIONS 

the  condition  of  mind  of  the  person  who  comes  from 
the  humid  east  and  for  the  first  time  is  exposed  to  the 
hot  dry  sun,  the  dust  and  other  surroundings  inseparable 
from  the  arid  West. 

Conditions  which  are  familiar  to  the  older  inhabitants 
and  to  which  the  newcomer  himself  gives  no  heed  at  a 
later  date,  are  often  oppressive  or  almost  unendurable 
during  the  first  few  months.  He  finds  also,  as  in  all 
similar  enterprises,  that  he  must  unlearn  many  things 
which  he  has  considered  as  fixed.  He  must  acquire 
entirely  new  habits  and  attitudes  towards  his  work. 
All  of  these  things  bring  about  a  mental  wrench  and 
predispose  him  to  find  fault  with  conditions  hi  general, 
the  soil,  the  climate,  and  particularly  the  representative 
of  the  organization  under  which  he  is  working,  namely, 
the  manager  of  the  project.  This  manager  can  be  most 
easily  reached  and  is  inseparably  connected  in  the 
minds  of  the  newcomer  with  the  conditions  which  led 
him  to  come  to  the  new  home. 

The  patience  and  wisdom  of  the  manager  is  thus 
continually  taxed,  especially  at  the  outset  when  there 
are  large  numbers  of  men  unused  to  irrigation.  At 
such  times  it  is  necessary  for  him  to  exercise  the  skill 
of  a  diplomat  with  the  experience  of  a  business  man. 

He  must  bear  in  mind  that  this  discontent  is  tem- 
porary in  character  and  that  with  lapse  of  time  the 
regrets  diminish;  in  fact,  the  persons  who  at  the  out- 
set are  most  disappointed  in  the  contrast  in  the  con- 
ditions which  they  left  in  their  old  homes — or  with  the 
picture  which  they  had  in  mind  of  the  place  they  were 
coming  to — are  the  very  persons  who  later  become 
most  enthusiastic  and  forget  and  even  deny  that  they 
ever  had  any  illusions  on  the  subject.  Nevertheless,  at 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

the  time,  these  disappointments  are  very  real  and  as 
in  the  case  of  homesickness,  to  which  they  are  closely 
allied,  must  be  treated  with  an  understanding  of  the 
symptoms  of  the  disease. 

It  may  be  a  source  of  consolation  to  the  manager 
to  know  that  the  conditions  on  his  project  are  not  unique 
and  that  all  men  in  similar  positions  are  subject  to 
similar  trials.  Sometimes,  the  manager  under  a  Gov- 
ernment project  thinks  that  he  in  particular  is  signaled 
out  for  trouble,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  *the  relations 
between  the  management  and  the  water  users  on  private 
projects  are,  as  a  rule,  even  more  strained  than  those 
.on  a  Government  project.  There  may  be  less  pub- 
licity about  the  matter,  as  it  is  of  less  public  interest, 
but  nevertheless  the  effective  manager  of  a  privately 
owned  project,  like  the  settler,  has  no  bed  of  roses. 

Investigation  of  Complaints. — The  complaints  which 
habitually  come  to  the  irrigation  manager  may  be  grouped 
into  several  heads,  some  of  which  are  the  mere  normal 
expressions  arising  from  homesickness  or  discontent, 
and  others  from  causes  which  may  be  ameliorated  in 
part.  The  most  important  complaints  are  those  which 
have  to  do  with  the  integrity  and  high  moral  standard 
of  the  employees  whose  business  brings  them  into  daily 
contact  with  the  irrigators.  Any  suspicion  of  unfair- 
ness or  of  "  graft  "  should  immediately  be  followed  up 
and  given  the  most  complete  inquiry.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  ordinary  complaints  of  failure  to  receive 
water  at  the  time  set  or  in  the  order  agreed  upon,  which 
are  usually  due  to  some  misunderstanding  of  the  wishes 
of  the  irrigator  or  of  the  established  necessary  regula- 
tions, may  be  considered  as  less  serious,  though  pos- 
sibly indicating  lack  of  thoroughness  on  the  part  of 

230 


THE  IRRIGATOR  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATIONS 

the  individual  immediately  concerned.  All  of  these 
should  be  looked  into,  but  with  especial  emphasis  as 
above  stated  upon  those  matters  which  reach  to  the 
moral  soundness  of  the  organization. 

Complaints  are  the  valuable  warnings  or  danger  signals 
to  the  manager,  and  while  the  details  of  investigation 
may  be  properly  assigned  to  'trustworthy  assistants, 
the  manager  himself  must  know  at  all  times  what  is  the 
true  nature  of  these  complaints  and  while  not  giving 
too  much  of  his  own  time  to  the  matter,  be  sure  that 
prompt  attention  is  being  given  to  each  statement. 
As  far  as  possible  he  should  investigate  on  the  ground 
and  with  the  individual  concerned  rather  than  make 
the  matter  one  of  public  or  semi-public  conference,  as 
he  is  more  apt  to  arrive  at  the  true  situation  through 
personal  interviews  than  through  statements  made  in 
public  meetings  where  there  may  be  the  tendency  "  to 
talk  to  the  galleries." 

Every  reasonable  facility  should  be  afforded  to  the 
individual  water  users  to  make  known  their  grievances, 
and  they  should  be  made  to  feel  that  they  are  welcome 
at  all  times  to  present  the  facts,  especially  in  writing, 
where  these  can  be  carefully  studied.  Every  farmer 
or  resident  on  each  project  should  have  ready  access 
to  the  manager  and  receive  prompt  attention,  even  if 
his  case  appears  trivial,  proper  safeguards,  however, 
being  provided  against  misuse  of  time  by  habitual 
fault-finders. 

It  is  desirable  to  have  frequent  informal  discussions 
with  the  principal  officers  of  the  water  users'  associa- 
tions, at  which  project  matters  may  be  freely  discussed. 
Although  such  procedure  sometimes  takes  much  valuable 
time,  yet  it  is  productive  of  good.  The  opportunity 

231 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

of  free  speech  is  usually  appreciated,  and  in  most  cases 
certain  troubles,  which  otherwise  might  assume  large 
dimensions,  when  discussed,  are  dropped. 

EDUCATION 

During  the  part  of  the  year  when  the  manager  and 
his  assistants  are  less  busy  with  the  details  of  operation 
and  maintenance,  it  is  desirable  to  have  a  series  of  meet- 
ings or  farmers'  institutes  at  the  various  schoolhouses 
or  convenient  points  in  each  neighborhood  to  talk  over 
the  problems  of  farm  management  arid  of  improving 
the  general  conditions  of  a  locality.  Such  discussions 
when  constructive  in  character,  are  helpful  not  only  to 
the  individual  but  even  more  in  building  up  a  community 
spirit. 

In  organizing  these  winter  meetings,  the  initiation  can 
be  secured  or  cooperation  usually  had  with  the  field  agents 
and  employees  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agri- 
culture and  the  state  agricultural  college.  The  manager 
can  be  most  effective  in  encouraging  the  holding  of  these 
meetings  and  in  giving  advice  with  reference  to  the  various 
persons  who  are  best  adapted  to  take  part  in  the  work. 

There  have  grown  up  also  a  series  of  correspondence 
schools,  established  by  the  agricultural  colleges  and  other 
institutions,  by  means  of  which  the  irrigator,  especially 
during  the  winter  months  when  he  is  less  busy,  is  able 
to  acquire  considerable  information  and  advice  concern- 
ing the  methods  of  irrigation,  cultivation,  marketing  of 
crops  and  other  conditions.  These  correspondence  schools 
are  especially  valuable  to  the  younger  watermasters  or 
canal-riders,  in  giving  them  general  information  and  in 
better  preparing  them  for  the  work  of  the  succeeding 


THE  IRRIGATOR  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATIONS 

year,  enabling  them  in  time  to  advance  along  the  lines 
to  the  highest  positions  in  the  management  of  canals. 

The  most  important  educational  feature,  however,  is 
that  of  the  county  adviser  or  experienced  agriculturist 
working  with  the  state  agricultural  college.  He  visits  the 
farms  during  the  irrigation  season,  and  becomes  person- 
ally acquainted  with  the  problems  of  the  individual 
farmers.  The  systematic  extension  of  these  agricultural 
college  short  courses  and  instructions  in  the  field  is  doing 
much  to  make  more  effective  the  work  of  the  irrigation 
manager.  Also  with  the  gradual  spread  of  agricultural 
schools  throughout  the  irrigated  tracts,  there  comes  a 
higher  appreciation  of  the  value  of  water,  the  opportunity 
of  raising  crops,  and  of  the  necessity  of  following  a  certain 
prescribed  system  in  the  operation  and  management  of 
the  work. 

Posters. — One  of  the  interesting  features  of  recent  work 
of  the  state  experiment  stations  has  been  the  issue  of 
posters  giving  in  condensed  form  some  of  the  elements 
for  success.  These  are  sufficiently  short  and  explicit  to 
enable  a  busy  man  to  grasp  the  ideas  in  a  few  minutes, 
and  being  put  in  places  frequented  by  farmers,  serve  as 
a  topic  of  conversation  or  attract  the  attention  of  a  man 
waiting  for  some  purpose.  In  this  way  the  irrigators, 
especially  men  who  have  newly  come  to  the  country,  are 
greatly  benefited.  As  indicating  the  character  of  the 
advice  given  in  these  posters,  the  following  quotations 
are  made  from  one  issued  by  the  Montana  Agricultural 
Experiment  Station  in  1915. 

IRRIGATION   SUGGESTIONS 

Irrigation  water  intelligently  used  is  one  of  the  most  val- 
uable resources  in  the  State.  Improperly  applied,  it  is  very 

233 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

harmful.  Exercise  care  in  its  use  and  irrigate  the  greatest 
possible  area  of  land  with  the  water  available.  Avoid  the 
difficulties  arising  from  overirrigation. 

Save  the  Rainfall. — Early  spring  cultivation  of  plowed  fields 
and  harrowing  or  disking  immediately  behind  the  plow  in  the 
case  of  spring  plowing  holds  the  water  for  use  by  the  crop. 
Do  not  let  the  fields  dry  out  before  spring  planting.  Potatoes, 
corn,  sugar  beets,  etc.,  should  be  cultivated  as  soon  as  they 
come  up  and  kept  cultivated  till  time  to  irrigate. 

Keep  the  Soil  Fertile. — Fertile  soil  produces  a  crop  with 
much  less  water  than  does  a  poor  soil.  Grow  soil-improving 
crops  like  clover,  alfalfa,  peas,  etc.,  in  a  systematic  rotation 
on  each  field.  Use  all  the  barnyard  manure  available. 

Prepare  for  Irrigation. — Level  the  fields  before  seeding. 
Clean  out  all  head  ditches  and  main  laterals  immediately 
after  spring  seeding.  Put  in  field  laterals  and  dams  as  soon 
as  the  grain  is  a  few  inches  high.  Use  a  level  in  putting  in 
laterals  and  do  not  get  more  than  1  inch  fall  to  the  rod. 
Survey  laterals  every  spring  and  do  not  follow  old  lines  exactly 
as  this  tends  to  make  a  depression  in  the  field  and  the  level 
of  the  field  changes  somewhat  with  each  season's  cultivation. 

Irrigate  at  the  Proper  Time. — Grain  crops  ought  to  be  irri- 
gated very  soon  after  the  crop  shades  the  ground.  In  most 
parts  of  Montana  one  irrigation  is  sufficient  for  grain  crops 
if  the  spring  moisture  is  conserved  by  tillage. 

Alfalfa  and  clover  ought  to  be  irrigated  either  sometime 
before  cutting  so  the  ground  will  be  dry  enough  to  permit  the 
hay  to  cure,  or  immediately  after  the  crop  is  removed. 

Sugar  beets  should  be  irrigated  in  furrows  between  the 
rows,  care  being  taken  not  to  flood  the  beets.  If  cultivation 
has  been  properly  kept  up  irrigation  may  be  delayed  until  in 
July.  Hold  off  the  water  as  long  as  possible  without  causing 
the  beets  to  suffer.  Two  irrigations  should  make  the  crop. 
After  irrigation  cultivate  as  long  as  there  is  passage  through 
the  beets. 

Do  not  Overirrigate. — Land  is  irrigated  to  increase  the  crops. 


THE  IRRIGATOR  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATIONS 

This  is  most  effectively  done  when  the  soil  is  moistened  to  a 
reasonable  depth.  When  this  has  been  accomplished  further 
irrigation  is  harmful.  One-half  foot  in  depth  over  the  land 
is  usually  ample  for  grain  crops,  and  1  foot  for  hay  crops. 
Where  the  water  supply  is  limited,  as  compared  with  the 
land  available,  much  more  crop  will  be  produced  by  the  mod- 
erate use  of  water  over  a  large  area  of  land  than  by  adding 
an  excessive  amount  of  water  to  a  smaller  area. 

Keep  Down  the  Alkali  and  Prevent  Water-logging  of  the  Soil. — 
Leaky  ditches  and  the  excessive  use  of  water  over  the  land 
are  the  chief  causes  of  these  evils.  Repair  the  leaky  places 
and  do  not  use  too  much  water  or  flood  the  land  too  long. 
Prompt  spring  cultivation  and  careful  irrigation  will  avoid 
many  of  the  alkali  troubles. 

Kill  the  Weeds. — It  takes  as  much  water  to  grow  weeds 
as  it  does  the  same  weight  of  valuable  crops.  Proper  crop 
rotation  and  thorough  cultivation  will  hold  the  weeds  in  check. 

Measure  •  the  Water. — Measure  the  water  used.  The  seed 
is  measured,  and  a  proper  amount  of  water  is  just  as  essential. 
By  installing  simple,  inexpensive  weirs,  any  farmer  may  meas- 
ure water  accurately. 

1  From  Reclamation  Record,  Aug.,  1915, 


CHAPTER  XIII 
METHODS   OF  APPLYING  WATER 

THE  manager  of  an  irrigation  system  must  have  had 
experience  not  only  in  practical  application  of  water  to 
the  fields  but  also  should  be  broadly  informed  concern- 
ing the  different  methods  so  that  he  may  advise  his  assis- 
tants and  they  in  turn  be  prepared  to  exchange  ideas 
with  the  farmers  in  the  fields.  While  it  is  not  often  prac- 
ticable or  advisable  for  him  to  attempt  directly  to  teach 
the  irrigators  better  methods,  yet  he  should  be  com- 
petent to  exert  an  indirect  influence  towards  securing 
greater  economy  and  efficiency  in  the  use  of  water. 

VARIATION   IN   PRACTICE 

In  the  actual  application  of  water  to  the  soil  there  is 
great  variety  in  the  methods  employed,  these  being  de- 
pendent largely  upon  the  abundance  of  water,  the  skill 
of  the  irrigator,  and  the  climatic  conditions.  For  example, 
where  the  climate  is  warm,  and  water  is  scarce  and  con- 
sequently very  valuable,  as  in  southern  California,  it 
becomes  possible  because  of  the  high  cost  of  land  and  the 
value  of  the  crops,  to  incur  large  expense  in  procuring 
water  and  to  pipe  it  to  the  field  and  bring  it  underground 
to  the  plants.  In  this  way,  there  results  an  elaborate 
water-supply  system  of  conduits  and  pipes  comparable  to 
that  of  a  city  or  town  and  accompanied  by  the  highest 
economy  in  the  use  of  water. 


METHODS  OF  APPLYING  WATER 

The  eost  of  this  complete  distribution  by  means  of 
pipes  is  prohibitive  in  the  greater  part  of  the  arid  West, 
where  the  value  of  the  crops  does  not  justify  such  large 
expenditure  in  bringing  water  to  the  fields.  The  essential 
conditions  for  the  greater  part  of  the  irrigable  area  is  to 
obtain  and  conduct  the  water  in  the  cheapest  possible 
manner  by  gravity.  In  order  to  secure  economy  of  cost, 
it  is  necessary  that  the  canals  be  built  mainly  in  earth 
and  as  a  consequence,  there  must  be  large  loss  in  carrying 
the  water.  Thus  great  economy  in  the  transportation  of 
water  for  irrigation  is  not  possible  under  usual  conditions. 
In  the  same  way  it  is  not  practicable  for  the  average 
farmer  to  secure  ideal  economy  in  the  distribution  of  the 
water  to  his  fields,  such  as  would  be  essential  in  the 
warmer  climates  where  water  is  more  expensive. 

The  various  methods  of  distributing  water  to  the  fields 
after  it  has  been  delivered  to  the  farm  may  be  classified 
in  accordance  with  what  is  now  known  of  the  historical 
development  or  gradual  evolution  of  the  art  of  irrigation. 
The  more  economical  modern  methods  have  been  the  out- 
growth of  experience  in  the  use  of  less  effective  systems. 
Taking  these  in  the  order  of  development,  the  first  step 
in  artificially  applying  water  to  the  ground  may  be  con- 
sidered that  of  wild  flooding,  where  water  has  been  turned 
to  the  fields  and  allowed  to  find  its  way  across  them.  If 
these  fields  are  nearly  level,  there  will  be  a  fairly  uniform 
distribution  of  the  water;  if,  however,  they  are  undula- 
ting or  have  low  spots,  it  is  obvious  that  these  low  places 
will  receive  too  much  water  and  if  efforts  are  made  to 
raise  this  to  the  higher  points,  the  crops  on  the  lower 
places  may  be  drowned  out.  This  is  simply  an  imita- 
tion of  the  work  of  nature  in  overflowing  the  low-lying 
alluvial  plains  in  times  of  flood. 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

Next  in  order,  after  ordinary  wild  flooding,  comes  the 
flooding  of  areas  within  checks  or  borders,  consisting  of 
low  dikes  or  ridges  of  earth,  holding  the  water  in  smaller 
divisions  or  portions  of  the  field,  forming  little  ponds  of 
a  few  rods  or  feet  in  width.  The  next  development  was 
probably  that  of  running  the  water  through  furrows  or 
between  the  rows  of  planted  crops.  There  are  almost 
innumerable  variations  of  these  three  principal  methods 
of  flooding,  checks,  and  furrows,  but  for  present  pur- 
poses this  general  distinction  may  be  observed. 

Flooding. — The  methods  of  applying  water  to  the  fields 
by  flooding,  as  previously  stated  are  largely  those  of  nature 
and  may  be  considered  as  the  most  primitive  and  con- 
sequently most  wasteful  methods  of  bringing  water  to 
the  crops.  The  degree  of  waste,  however,  is  reduced 
in  proportion  as  the  fields  are  carefully  leveled  and 
prepared  for  the  flooding.  With  skill  and  care,  it  is 
possible  to  apply  water  quite  economically,  but  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  such  skill  and  care  generally  are  not 
employed  where  flooding  is  ordinarily  practiced. 

Checks. — Irrigation  in  checks  is  a  development  of  the 
methods  of  flooding,  such  that  the  field  to  be  watered  is 
laid  off  into  relatively  small  tracts  or  compartments 
each  surrounded  by  a  small  ridge,  usually  built  with 
sufficient  breadth  at  its  base  and  such  gentle  slopes 
that  the  ordinary  wagons  and  cultivating  machines 
can  be  driven  over  them.  As  practiced  by  various 
primitive  peoples  and  by  the  Mexicans,  these  fields  or 
lands  are  made  quite  small,  sometimes  not  more  than  a 
rod  or  two  in  width,  the  surrounding  dikes  being  thrown 
up  by  hand  with  great  expenditure  of  time  and  labor. 
The  water  may  be  introduced  into  one  of  these  shallow 
basins  or  checks,  usually  the  highest  or  nearest  to  the 


METHODS  OF  APPLYING  WATER 

distributing  canal,  and  then  drawn  in  succession  from 
one  field  to  another  by  cutting  the  bounding  or  inter- 
vening levees. 

Under  another  system,  head  ditches  may  be  provided, 
by  which  a  considerable  number  of  these  checks  or 
lands  can  be  filled  with  water  at  the  same  time  and 
instead  of  being  drawn  off  from  one  of  these  basins  to 
the  next,  the  water  is  allowed  to  stand  until  it  soaks 
into  the  ground. 

In  certain  parts  of  the  country,  especially  in  the 
San  Joaquin  Valley  of  California,  large  quantities  or 
"  heads  "  of  water  are  used,  and  irrigation  is  rapidly 
accomplished,  this  being  possible  because  of  the  careful 
leveling  of  the  ground  between  the  checks.  The  follow- 
ing statements  from  Mr.  A.  Griffin,  formerly  engineer 
of  the  Modesto  Irrigation  District,  give  a  description  of 
the  methods  and  of  the  use  of  "  square  "  checks  and 
"strip  "  checks: 

"Square  check"  or  "level  check"  is  the  term  applied  to 
checks  that  have  been  made  approximately  level  and  are 
designated  as  "square"  from  the  fact  that  they  are  usually 
rectangular.  The  best  practice  is  to  make  them  level  to 
within  a  variation  of  0.2  foot.  In  leveling  it  is  not  uncommon 
to  make  cuts  and  fills  of  one  to  two  feet,  and  in  extreme  cases 
much  greater.  It  is  almost  universal  practice  to  serve  each 
check  directly  from  the  field  lateral  and  rarely  through  another 
check. 

Checks  are  given  an  area  of  one-half  acre  to  two  acres, 
although  the  three-quarter  and  one-acre  checks  are  most 
popular.  Boxes  for  delivering  water  into  the  checks  are 
made  from  18  inches  to  8  feet  in  width  and  capable  of  delivering 
as  much  as  15  or  20  cubic  feet  per  second.  Probably  an  av- 
erage width  of  box  is  4  to  5  feet,  delivering  4  to  8  second-feet 

239 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

to  the  check.  It  is  customary  to  deliver  water  to  a  number 
of  checks  at  one  time. 

The  average  delivery  to  an  individual  irrigator  in  portions 
of  the  San  Joaquin  valley  is  12  to  20  second-feet.  There  are 
some  irrigators  who  can  take  care  of  40  to  50  second-feet.  The 
districts  requirements  in  California  do  not  limit  the  head 
which  an  individual  may  use  except  by  proportioning  it.  The 
only  requirement  is  that  irrigation  must  be  at  the  rate  of  three 
acres  per  hour  and  in  times  of  scarcity  the  requirement  may 
be  raised  to  four  acres  per  hour.  It  is  quite  possible  that  this 
may  soon  become  a  regular  requirement.  This  has  been 
developed  gradually  from  the  original  requirement  of  one 
acre  per  hour.  It  is  the  increasing  strictness  of  these 
requirements  that  has  forced  the  present  excellent  checking 
practice. 

Much  of  the  irrigation  practice  is  far  in  advance  of  the 
requirements,  and  rates  of  irrigation  of  from  4  to  6  acres  per 
hour,  and  in  some  cases  with  large  heads,  of  10  or  more  acres 
per  hour,  are  not  uncommon.  At  the  same  time  it  has  been 
necessary  to  show  considerable  leniency  to  those  who  cannot 
meet  the  requirements  through  the  poor  checking  originally 
done  or  on  account  of  natural  difficulties  of  soil  or  topography. 
It  might  seem  that  the  time-limit  requirement  would  merely 
cause  the  building  of  large  ditches,  and  while  it  has  caused 
that,  yet  the  people  have  known  that  while  they  must  be  in 
shape  to  use  a  large  head  in  times  of  plenty  they  must  also 
be  able  to  use  a  comparatively  small  head  to  good  advantage 
in  times  of  scarcity  which  they  cannot  do  except  by  careful 
checking. 

The  average  cost  of  putting  raw  land  into  alfalfa,  leveled, 
ditched,  boxed,  seeded  in  California,  is  about  $40.00  per 
acre  and  costs  of  $50.00  to  $60.00  per  acre  are  not  uncommon. 
Some  of  this  work  can  be  done  for  $20.00  or  less  per  acre. 
During  the  early  years  of  irrigation — 1901  to  1906 — it  was 
thought  that  this  work  could  be  done  for  $5.00  to  $15.00  per 
acre  and  many  people  really  did  it.  However,  most  of  that 

240 


METHODS  OF  APPLYING  WATER 

land  has  been  rechecked.  Contour  checks  were  largely  used 
at  one  time  but  are  rapidly  becoming  obsolete. 

The  "border,"  "gravity"  or  "strip"  check  is  very  popular 
on  land  which  has  sufficient,  but  not  too  much,  slope  for  its 
use.  The  strip  check  varies  from  20  to  100  feet  in  width 
and  from  200  to  2,000  feet  in  length,  depending  upon  the  local 
conditions.  The  average  length  probably  does  not  exceed 
600  feet  and  the  tendency  will  undoubtedly  be  to  reduce  the 
maximum  lengths  very  greatly.  Fortunately  it  is  easily  done 
by  merely  running  in  extra  cross-ditches.  It  is  quite  common 
to  run  a  field  lateral  200  or  300  feet  from  and  parallel  to  the 
high  side  of  a  piece  of  land  and  put  in  a  tier  of  square  checks 
on  the  high  side  and  strip  checks  on  the  low  side.  The  limit 
of  slopes  for  strip  checks  are  probably  as  low  as  0.2  foot  per 
100  feet  to  an  upper  limit  which  varies  with  the  soil  but  may 
be  a  great  as  3  to  5  feet  per  100.  Practice  is  still  developing 
satisfactory  results  from  increasingly  steep  slopes.  It  is  not 
uncommon  to  make  level  the  first  50  to  150  feet  of  a  strip 
check  or  even  provide  it  with  a  slightly  elevated  crest  at  the 
beginning  of  the  slope  to  insure  an  even  distribution  of  water 
on  the  upper  end. 

There  is  little  opportunity  for  draining  the  surplus  water 
from  the  lower  ends  of  strip  checks  so  that  great  care  must 
be  exercised  and  water  must  be  shut  off  at  the  upper  end  at 
a  carefully  judged  time  in  order  to  thoroughly  irrigate  the 
check  and  it  the  same  time  have  no  accumulation  of  water 
at  the  lower  end.  Irrigators  become  expert  in  time  and  this 
is  one  of  the  sources  of  the  great  economy  of  water  that  goes 
with  strip  checks. 

With  the  stricter  requirements  of  the  irrigation  dis- 
trict in  the  use  of  water  due  to  lapse  of  time  there  usually 
develops  a  desire  of  the  irrigators  for  still  greater  re- 
quirements. Some  of  the  cuts  in  the  time  allowance 
have  really  been  in  response  to  a  popular  demand. 
The  man  who  puts  his  land  in  first-class  condition  and 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

is  enabled  to  use  water  economically,  immediately  sees 
that  the  other  man  who  uses  it  wastefully  is  injuring  him 
and  all  others,  as  well  as  himself,  by  lengthening  the  period 
between  irrigations  and  by  reducing  the  total  quantity 
available  for  beneficial  use.  Furthermore  the  man  who 
spent  forty  dollars  to  sixty  dollars  per  acre  in  preparing 
his  land  has  found,  as  anticipated,  that  he  is  saving 
two-thirds  to  three-fourths  the  cost  of  irrigation,  in  labor, 
delays,  etc.;  that  less  of  his  own  time  is  occupied  in 
irrigating;  that  he  can  get  along  with  less  help,  and  that 
he  is  producing  better  crops. 

Field  laterals  are  4  feet,  6  feet,  and  8  feet  wide,  with 
6  feet  the  most  common.  The  same  figures  hold  for  the 
headgates  of  the  field  laterals.  It  is  customary  to  pre- 
pare ten  acres  for  irrigation  at  the  same  rate  as  one 
hundred,  although  in  smaller  areas  this  rule  is  subject  to 
some  modification. 

Strip  checking  is  usually  considerably  cheaper  than 
square  checking  and  it  is  becoming  customary  to  use  this 
method  on  all  land  to  which  it  is  adapted.  Topography 
determines  this  adaptation  as  it  is  used  on  all  soils. 
Alfalfa  requires  water  at  intervals  of  fourteen  to  fifty 
days,  depending  on  the  soil,  ground-water  conditions, 
and  other  factors  that  are  closely  related  to  the  personal 
equation.  Two  different  men  on  the  same  piece  of  land 
will  create  widely  different  conditions. 

Furrows. — Irrigation  through  furrows  or  small  marks 
or  lines  made  on  the  surface  of  the  soil  is  usually  consid- 
ered as  most  economical  of  water  and  as  requiring  a  larger 
amount  of  care  and  skill  in  preparing  the  ground  and  in 
handling  the  water.  In  this  method,  the  water  is 
brought  to  the  field  by  a  head  ditch  and  then  turned 
in  succession  into  a  series  of  furrows  (See  illustration) 


WOODEN    MEASURING    WEIR    IN    LATERAL   CANAL,    WILLISTON, 
NORTH  DAKOTA. 


IRRIGATING  SUGAR  BEETS  BY  MEANS  OF  FURROWS 


METHODS  OF  APPLYING  WATER 

wetting  from  a  half-dozen  to  twenty  or  more  at  a  time. 
The  water  is  allowed  to  flow  down  these  furrows  or 
grooves  on  the  surface  until  it  appears  at  the  lower 
end.  Then  the  supply  is  cut  off  at  the  upper  end  and  a 
corresponding  amount  turned  down  a  group  of  adjacent 
furrows. 

The  success  of  this  system  depends  largely  on  the 
slope  of  the  ground  and  the  experience  of  the  irrigator. 
As  a  rule,  in  the  past,  attempts  were  made  to  use  furrows 
which  were  too  long,  sometimes  a  half-mile  in  length, 
giving  an  excess  amount  of  water  at  the  upper  end  of 
the  furrow.  Where  the  soil  is  relatively  porous,  it  is 
desirable  to  have  these  furrows  not  to  exceed  four  hun- 
dred feet  in  length  and  the  entire  field  traversed  in  such 
way  by  supply  laterals  as  to  reduce  the  length  of  the 
furrows. 

LEVELING  THE  LANDS 

The  success  of  any  system,  in  respect  to  economy 
of  time  spent  in  irrigation  and  in  economy  of  water, 
rests  largely  upon  the  care  which  has  been  used  in  pre- 
paring the  ground  and  in  bringing  the  surface  of  the  soil 
to  as  nearly  level  or  smooth  a  condition  as  possible. 
The  cost  of  this  leveling  is  frequently  great,  so  large  in 
fact  as  to  be  practically  prohibitory  to  the  ordinary 
settler  as  regards  his  entire  farm.  He  usually  does  not 
have  the  time  or  means  at  his  disposal  to  bring  all  of  his 
ground  to  the  proper  level,  but  must  content  himself 
with  an  approximation  at  this. 

Experience  has  shown  that  even  if  the  farmer  does 
not  have  sufficient  funds  to  enable  him  to  level  up  in 
advance  his  entire  farm,  yet  he  can  make  a  definite 
gain  by  concentrating  a  part  of  his  efforts  upon  a  rela- 

243 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

lively  small  portion  of  the  land  and  bring  into  good 
condition  each  year  even  as  small  an  area  as  a  single 
acre"  or  five  acres.  If  he  follows  this  plan  and  gradually 
extends  these  improvements,  in  course  of  time  he  will 
have  the  entire  field  brought  to  as  nearly  a  perfect  con- 
dition as  possible.  In  the  meantime,  through  lack  of 
means  he  must  do  the  best  he  can  to  utilize  the  remaining 
ground,  but  from  the  outset  his  plans  should  be  such  that 
ultimately  the  surface  will  be  brought  to  a  uniform 
condition,  thus  assuring  future  economy  in  use  of  water 
and  in  the  time  of  its  application. 

The  cost  of  clearing  and  leveling  the  ground  varies 
widely,  from  conditions  where  nature  has  left  the  surface 
on  a  gentle,  even  slope,  free  from  irregularities  and  even 
from  vegetation,  to  those  where  the  ground  is  very 
irregular,  cut  by  small  gullies  and  covered  with  a  dense 
growth  of  willows  and  cottonwood.  Here  the  cost  of 
clearing  and  leveling  as,  for  example,  on  the  Yuma  proj- 
ect in  Arizona,  may  be  as  high  as  $50  per  acre  or  even 
more. 

Before  plowing  the  fields  the  knolls  should  be  taken 
off  with  a,  Fresno  scraper.  If  the  land  can  be  plowed 
without  first  watering,  it  is  preferable  to  do  this  as  better 
results  can  be  obtained  in  leveling  and  "  floating  "  as 
it  is  commonly  called.  The  leveler  may  be  built  of 
2  X  8-inch  timbers  about  6  feet  wide  and  18  feet  long. 
It  is  dragged  across  the  field  to  break  down  the  small 
clods,  fill  up  depressions  and  smooth  the  surface.  For 
best  results,  the  ground  should  be  harrowed  after  plow- 
ing and  before  using  the  float.  It  is  important  to  see 
that  all  the  land  is  turned  over.  In  countries  where 
there  is  any  considerable  amount  of  snow,  the  ground 
if  plowed  in  the  fall  should  be  left  until  spring  before 


METHODS  OF  APPLYING  WATER 

leveling,  in  order  to  catch  light  drifting  snow.  Then  as 
soon  as  the  ground  is  sufficiently  dry  to  be  harrowed 
and  leveled,  this  is  done.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the 
ground  is  plowed  in  the  spring,  it  should  be  harrowed 
immediately  and  not  left  overnight.  This  is  for  the 
purpose  of  forming  a  top  mulch  and  to  prevent  the  dry- 
ing out  of  the  soil. 

On  very  sandy  lands  where  there  are  frequent  high 
winds,  the  ground  may  be  leveled  by  the  use  of  a  harrow, 
leaving  a  rougher  top  surface.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  soil  is  liable  to  pack  and  it  is  necessary  to  irrigate 
the  crop  to  bring  it  up,  a  light  harrow  or  corrugated 
roller  should  be  used  in  breaking  the  top  crust,  permit- 
ting the  light  and  air  to  penetrate  the  soil.1 

SIZE  OF  IRRIGATION   HEAD 

The  general  tendency  on  most  new  irrigation  projects 
is  to  attempt  to  use  a  rate  of  flow  of  water  for  irrigation 
too  small  for  economy  of  time  or  water.  It  is  well  known 
that  a  small  stream  such  as  that  from  a  pump  of  a  wind- 
mill does  not  flow  in  an  open  ditch  many  rods  away 
from  the  well  but  is  lost  in  the  porous  soil.  Thus 
although  the  windmill  may  continue  in  operation  day 
and  night  and  in  the  course  of  months  pump  enough 
water  to  irrigate  several  acres,  yet  the  actual  effect  of  the 
irrigation  will  only  be  seen  over  a  few  square  rods.  If 
the  same  quantity  of  water  is  held  in  a  reservoir  or 
earthen  tank  and  allowed  to  flow  out  at  intervals  in  a 
large  stream,  it  is  possible  to  irrigate  a  considerable 
body  of  land. 

If  we  imagine  that  the  small  stream  of  water  from  the 

1  J.  M.  Jump  in  Reclamation  Record,  June,  1915,  p.  262, 

245 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

windmill  pump  is  gradually  increased  in  volume  it  can 
be  readily  seen  that  a  greater  and  greater  area  can  be 
covered  as  the  water  flows  more  rapidly.  There  is  less 
proportional  loss  in  the  soil,  with  a  large  stream  than 
with  a  very  small  one.  When  the  stream  increases  in 
volume  to  about  3  cubic  feet  per  second,  it  is  of  such 
size  that  it  taxes  the  ingenuity  of  the  inexperienced 
irrigator  to  keep  it  within  bounds  and  with  5  second-feet 
the  average  man  is  quite  content.  However,  it  has  been 
found  that  a  still  larger  volume  of  water  could  be  handled 
and  with  added  experience  an  irrigation  head  as  large 
as  15  or  even  20  second-feet  as  before  stated,  may  be 
used  under  favorable  conditions.  Assuming  that  an 
irrigation  head  of  10  second-feet  can  be  effectively 
handled,  it  can  be  demonstrated  that  with  skill  and  care 
more  than  ten  times  the  area  can  be  irrigated  successfully 
than  with  1  second-foot.  The  work  can  be  done  in  less 
than  one-tenth  the  time. 

The  limit  of  size  of  an  irrigation  head  is  dependent  upon 
the  character  of  the  soil,  its  slope,  the  kind  of  crop  raised 
and  especially  the  skill  of  the  irrigator.  With  relatively 
firm  soil,  which  does  not  wash  easily,  and  with  gentle 
fall  in  the  fields  which  have  been  successfully  covered 
with  alfalfa,  it  is  possible  to  irrigate  rapidly  with  the 
largest  irrigation  heads  of  say  15  or  20  second-feet  or 
as  stated  by  Mr.  Griffin  on  page  239,  up  to  50  second- 
feet  by  flooding.  With  looser  soils  and  greater  slopes 
far  smaller  heads  must  be  used.  In  the  case  of  orchards 
or  crops  cultivated  in  furrows  the  irrigation  head  may  be 
subdivided  into  a  number  of  small  streams  each  flowing 
down  its  appropriate  furrow,  the  amount  being  made 
proportional  to  the  length  of  the  furrow  and  the  steep- 
ness of  the  slope. 

246 


METHODS  OF  APPLYING  WATER 

There  is  no  one  point  upon  which  there  is  probably 
wider  diversity  of  opinion  among  irrigators  than  upon 
the  size  of  the  irrigating  head  required  for  economical 
use  of  water.  So  much  depends  upon  the  experience 
of  the  farmer,  the  preparation  of  the  ground  and  the 
size  of  the  structures  that  it  is  not  possible  to  lay  down 
any  hard  and  fast  rule.  In  general  it  may  be  said, 
however,  that  on  most  of  the  irrigation  systems  the 
original  plans  contemplated  using  heads  now  considered 
too  small  for  economy  of  water  and  time.  Most  of  the 
older  structures  should  be  replaced  and  the  entire  system 
revised  before  high  economy  can  be  reached.  Nothing 
increases  the  duty  of  water  more  than  having  the  water 
"  bunched  "  and  handled  in  a  sufficient  number  of  farm 
head  laterals  so  that  the  irrigator  can  deliver  a  large 
head  and  rapidly  cover  the  land. 

Every  reasonable  attempt  should  be  made  to  give  each 
farmer  as  large  a  head  of  water  as  he  can  handle  under  the 
conditions  of  soil,  slope  of  ground,  and  structures.  The 
average  man  on  a  40-acre  tract  tries  to  irrigate  from  the 
upper  end  clear  through  to  the  lower  end.  As  a  conse- 
quence he  uses  much  more  water  than  is  necessary, 
an  excess  being  applied  to  the  land  near  the  lateral  and 
too  little  at  the  far  end.  Experience  has  shown  that 
there  should  be  from  4  to  6  head  laterals  on  every  40- 
acre  tract,  dependent  upon  the  slope  of  the  ground, 
but  sufficiently  near  together  to  permit  the  full  head  to 
be  used  and  water  carried  in  a  short  interval  of  time 
from  the  upper  end  to  the  lower  end  of  each  furrow. 

As  an  example  of  the  change  from  small  to  large  head 
used  in  applying  water  for  irrigation,  there  may  be 
quoted  a  case  on  the  Pecos  River  in  New  Mexico,  where 
at  first  the  distributing  system  was  small  and  the  checks 

247 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

or  portions  of  land  to  be  irrigated  were  usually  in  small 
plots,  on  an  average  of  about  four  plots  or  checks  to  the 
acre,  being  about  30  feet  wide  and  330  feet  long  as  habit- 
ually built  by  Mexicans.  Water  was  turned  into  each 
check  by  making  a  cut  in  the  side  of  the  earth  distrib- 
uting lateral  and  the  water  was  shut  off  by  filling  the  hole 
in  the  bank  with  earth.  The  first  improvement  made 
by  Manager  L.  E.  Foster  was  to  put  in  a  wooden  gate 
so  that  large  heads  could  be  controlled.  When  this 
was  done,  a  large  amount  of  water  could  be  allowed  to 
rush  into  the  check  and  over  the  ground  until  it  reached 
the  lower  end.  With  this  larger  head  it  was  then  quickly 
seen  that  these  checks  or  basins  were  too  small,  and 
should  be  enlarged  to  include  at  least  an  acre  in  each. 

Under  the  old  system,  a  Mexican  irrigator  required  6 
days  and  nights  to  irrigate  a  40-acre  tract,  being  paid 
about  $20  for  the  work.  With  enlarged  heads  and  di- 
vision into  larger  fields,  this  40  acres  could  be  watered 
by  one  man  and  a  boy  in  15  hours.  To  do  this,  it  has 
been  necessary  to  enlarge  the  laterals  leading  to  the  farm 
from  the  canals  to  carry  from  20  to  30  second-feet  of  water, 
these  being  from  6  to  7  feet  wide  at  the  bottom.  The 
checks  or  fields  are  made  60  feet  wide  and  660  feet  long, 
or  double  the  former  size.  The  openings  from  the  farm 
canal  are  3  feet  across  and  two  of  them  are  provided  so 
that  20  cubic  feet  per  second  can  be  used  at  once,  irrigating 
four  of  the  above-described  checks  in  an  hour,  covering 
the  land  to  a  depth  of  4  inches.  In  an  instance  given, 
with  this  change  tactfully  worked  out  by  the  manager, 
64  acres  of  alfalfa  then  standing  8  inches  high  were  irri- 
gated in  12  hours  and  with  little  difficulty  with  the  water. 

Success  with  large  heads  of  15  to  20  cubic  feet  per 
second  and  the  consequent  saving  in  time  and  greater 


METHODS  OF  APPLYING  WATER 

economy  in  the  water  is  dependent  on  securing  field 
laterals  of  adequate  size,  strong  banks,  which  are  well 
abow  the  grade  of  the  canal,  check  gates  at  necessary 
intervals  across  the  distributary  and  wooden  or  concrete 
gates  of  suitable  size  to  conduct  the  large  head  from  the 
distributary  to  the  field.  A  poorly  constructed  system 
necessarily  results  in  disappointment  and  waste. 

The  theory  of  a  large  head  of  water  of  say  10  to  30  feet 
is  that  it  can  be  confined  to  one  border  of  60  or  80  feet  in 
width  and  be  poured  quickly  over  the  land,  the  size  of 
the  head  being  dependent  necessarily  on  the  slope  of  the 
particular  tract.  It  may  be  possible  to  run  water  in  this 
way  over  the  entire  length  of  an  80-acre  tract,  but  the 
best  practice  seems  to  be  to  have  several  small  distribu- 
taries to  the  40-acre  tract, 

MEASURING  TO   THE   FIELDS 

The  irrigation  manager  usually  finds  on  his  project 
that  there  are  certain  general  practices  which  have  been 
widely  adopted  in  the  use  of  water  such  as  by  flooding 
or  furrow,  and  that  he  can  improve  these  only  by  the 
exercise  of  patience  and  perseverance  and  after  he  has 
acquired  full  knowledge  of  all  of  the  conditions,  not  merely 
those  of  soil,  climate,  and  crops,  but  of  the  irrigators 
themselves.  There  are  certain  general  impressions  which 
usually  prevail,  to  the  effect  that  the  principal  object  of 
irrigation  is  to  keep  the  soil  very  nearly  soaked  in  order 
to  make  the  greatest  plant  growth,  and  that  the  increase 
in  yield  will  be  in  proportion  to  the  increase  in  the  amount 
of  water  applied.  This  fallacy  is  widespread  and  even 
though  many  experiments  have  been  made  and  demon- 
strations given  of  the  fact  that  the  yield  is  not  in  pro- 

249 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

portion  to  the  amount  of  water  applied,  but  sometimes 
almost  the  reverse,  yet  the  average  farmer  is  fully  con- 
vinced that  the  more  water  the  better  and  that  if  he  pays 
for  the  water,  it  is  to  his  interest  to  put  on  the  field  all 
that  he  can  get. 

The  only  way  by  which  this  fallacy  can  be  corrected  is 
that  which  comes  from  accurate  measurements  of  the 
amount  of  water  turned  in  the  field  and  comparisons 
with  the  crop  production.  The  end  to  be  attained  is  not 
wholly  that  of  extending  the  use  of  the  water  which  may 
be  available,  and  thus  increasing  the  acreage,  but  is  also 
that  of  securing  the  highest  efficiency  in  the  production 
of  the  crops.  The  necessary  facts  to  make  this  demon- 
stration can  be  secured  only  by  careful  measurement  and 
by  using  some  standard  measuring  device.  By  taking 
the  results  of  these  measurements  and  by  comparing  the 
crop  yields  and  then  discussing  the  matter  with  the 
farmers,  it  is  possible  to  bring  these  facts  to  their  attention 
in  a  way  such  as  to  convince  them  that  there  is  a  gain  to 
the  individual  by  greater  care  in  the  use  of  water. 

Agricultural  experts  have  found,1  that  the  best  total 
yields  of  wheat,  oats,  and  corn  were  obtained  when  the 
soil  was  kept  approximately  equally  moist  throughout 
the  season,  and  that  with  a  very  small  water  supply,  two 
irrigations  were  better  than  one.  It  was  also  found  that 
these  crops  needed  a  fair  irrigation  at  the  time  when  the 
seed  was  in  the  process  of  formation,  as  there  was  danger 
of  the  seed  shriveling  if  an  insufficient  amount  of  water 
was  then  supplied.  Ample  water  applied  at  this  time 
usually  resulted  in  a  larger  yield  of  grain,  and  an 

1  Utah  Agricultural  College,  Experiment  Station,  1912.  Bul- 
letins 117,  118,  etc. 

250 


METHODS  OF  APPLYING  WATER 

excess  applied  after  this  time,  resulted  in  increase  of 
straw.1 

As  stated  on  a  previous  page,  in  many  parts  of  the  arid 
West,  it  is  the  practice  to  use  the  flood  water  in  fields  or 
borders  which  are  too  long.  One  experiment,  for  example, 
shows  that  in  the  case  of  a  field  fifty  feet  wide  and  about 
one-half  mile  long,  this  was  divided  into  seven  equal 
divisions.  A  stream  or  head  of  water  of  2^  cubic  feet 
per  second  was  maintained  and  it  took  nearly  an  hour 
and  one-half  to  reach  the  end  of  the  first  division,  there 
Teing  applied  two-thirds  of  an  acre-foot  of  water  per  acre, 
bhis  was  a  good  irrigation  and  if  the  water  had  been 
stopped  there  and  conveyed  around  this  portion  of  the 
field  to  the  next  portion  without  running  over  the  land 
just  irrigated,  economy  would  have  resulted. 

In  the  case  of  this  experiment,  however,  as  the  water 
flowed  from  one  division  into  another,  the  length  of 
time  increased  until  at  the  last  division,  it  took  7  hours 
to  complete  the  irrigation  as  compared  with  less  than  1^ 
hours  on  the  first  portion.  During  that  time  a  depth  of 
If  acre-feet  per  acre  was  applied,  if  this  were  considered 
as  uniformly  spread  over  the  entire  fields.  If  the  several 
divisions  had  been  irrigated  individually,  it  would  have 
taken  only  about  9J  hours  with  a  uniform  depth  of  water 
of  f  acre-foot  per  acre  and  a  saving  of  40  per  cent,  of  the 
amount  of  water. 

In  one  sense,  it  is  as  important  to  measure  water  as  it 
is  to  cultivate  the  land.  The  problem  as  above  stated 
is  not  only  one  of  economy  in  the  use  of  water,  but  one 

1  See  also  "Effects  of  Variation  of  Moisture  Content  on  Certain 
Properties  of  the  Soil  and  on  the  Growth  of  Wheat,"  by  Franklin 
S.  Harris,  Cornell  University,  N.  Y.,  Bulletin  352,  Sept.,  1914. 

251 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

of  increasing  the  crop  revenue  from  the  farm.  This  is 
a  point  which  must  be  continually  emphasized  with  the 
irrigator,  namely,  that  it  is  the  object  of  the  management, 
as  before  stated,  not  merely  to  economize  water  in  order 
that  others  may  obtain  it,  but  to  help  him  individually 
in  getting  a  large  and  more  valuable  crop  production 
through  such  economy  in  the  use  of  water.  This  is  what 
appeals  to  the  irrigator;  it  is  not  the  benefit  that  will 
come  to  some  other  man,  or  to  the  community,  but  that 
which  will  accrue  directly  to  himself.  It  is  fortunate  that 
this  direct  personal  interest  is  coincident  in  this  case  with 
the  larger  interests  of  the  community.  It  may  be  stated 
as  a  general  truth  that  where  water  is  plentiful,  it  is  used 
wastefully,  and  the  crop  production  is  correspondingly 
small  and  poor.  Where  water  is  scarce,  there  is  usually 
great  care,  and  the  values  of  the  crops  are  correspondingly 
increased. 

Closely  connected  with  this  measurement  of  the  head 
or  quantity  of  water  and  the  total  amount  put  upon  the 
crop,  is  that  of  making  the  charges  of  annual  operation 
and  maintenance  based  upon  the  amount  of  water  used. 
This  is  the  most  effective  argument  for  economy.  While 
a  man  may  be  doubtful  as  regards  the  increased  yield 
which  comes  through  careful  use  of  the  water,  he  can 
have  no  question  whatever  about  the  advantage  to  him 
of  paying  for  a  less  amount  of  water  than  that  which  he 
would  take  on  first  impulse  if  it  were  furnished  without 
reference  to  price.  This  is  one  of  the  strong  arguments 
for  requiring  a  payment  in  advance  for  excess  water.  A 
man  who  has  made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  like  an 
extra  acre-foot,  when  he  comes  to  actually  making  the 
payment  in  advance,  concludes  that  probably  after  all, 
he  can  get  along  with  half  an  acre-foot  and  that  possibly 


METHODS  OF  APPLYING  WATER 

the  manager  may  be  right  in  saying  that  with  this  less 
amount  he  can  produce  good  crops.  The  reasoning  abil- 
ity of  the  individual  is  greatly  quickened  through  touch- 
ing the  pocket  nerve.1 

SUBIRRIGATION  2 

The  term  subirrigation  is  used  to  indicate  the  supplying 
of  moisture  to  vegetation  artificially  by  means  of  under- 
ground system.  This  method  of  application  is  attractive 
to  those  who  have  had  little  experience  with  it  but  is 
difficult  and  expensive  to  apply  successfully  except  under 
certain  favorable  natural  conditions. 

When  subirrigation  has  succeeded  the  following  natural 
conditions  exist:  (1)  a  surface  soil  which  possesses  high 
capillary  power  and  will  permit  of  rapid  lateral  percola- 
tion; (2)  an  impervious  under  stratum;  and  (3)  a  uniform 
surface  topography  which  will  permit  an  even  distri- 
bution. 

In  a  few  localities  of  the  United  States  it  has  been 
found  that  after  running  water  on  the  surface  of  the 
ground  through  earthen  supply  ditches  for  a  few  months 
or  years  the  land  has  kept  moist  by  the  seepage  of  these 
ditches.  Gradually  it  developed  that  surface  applica- 
tion of  water  became  unnecessary,  as  this  land  was  being 
subirrigated;  that  is,  the  water  was  sinking  to,  and 
traveling  along,  an  impervious  stratum,  thereby  being 
distributed  beneath  the  surface  where  it  was  brought 
up  slowly  to  the  plant  roots  by  capillarity. 

In  a  few  localities  subirrigation  has  been  practiced 
successfully  by  distributing  the  water  through  under- 

1  See  Utah  Bulletin  No.  118. 

2  From  circular  of  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture. 

253 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

ground  pipes,  but  this  method  has  not  reached  favor 
for  any  growth  except  shallow-rooted  plants.  There  are 
various  pipe  systems  in  use;  for  example,  one  consists  of 
a  continuous  pipe  laid  in  a  trench  by  a  machine.  This 
pipe  injects  the  water  into  the  soil  through  tubes  placed  in 
the  top  of  the  pipe.  Over  each  tube  is  placed  a  portion 
of  cement  pipe  convex  side  up,  to  prevent  earth  and 
roots  entering  the  tubes  and  stopping  up  the  tile.  This 
system  and  others  are  still  in  the  experimental  stage. 

Subirrigation  has  reached  its  most  successful  state  in 
the  truck  regions  of  Florida  and  California.  The  follow- 
ing data  relate  to  a  Florida  system  which  consists  of  a 
water  supply  delivered  to  the  highest  portion  of  the  field 
to  be  irrigated.  From  this  point  a  main  feed  pipe  leads 
to  a  distribution  lateral  system  which  in  turn  terminates 
at  a  drainage  ditch  or  tile. 

The  lateral  system  consists  of  a  series  of  parallel  pipe 
lines  made  of  common  cement  or  clay  drain  tile  three 
inches  inside  diameter  and  twelve  inches  in  length.  At 
points  in  each  lateral  where  it  is  desirous  to  check  the 
water,  a  cement  stop  box  is  located  for  use  in  operation. 

The  correct  spacing,  location,  and  laying  of  the  laterals 
is  most  important  to  the  success  of  a  subirrigation  system, 
when  natural  conditions  permit  the  use  of  this  method. 
The  spacing  is  determined  principally  by  the  texture  and 
powers  of  the  soil  to  convey  water  within  itself.  In 
the  sandy  soils  of  Florida  the  spacing  is  eighteen  to 
twenty-four  feet.  In  heavy  soils  this  distance  would  be 
much  less. 

Wooden  plugs  are  used  to  control  the  flow  or  irrigation 
throughout  the  tile  system.  Generally,  each  hole  in  the 
weir  wall  or  pipe  connection  will  be  fitted  up  with  a  system 
of  plugs,  consisting  of  a  large  hollow  plug  which  fits 


METHODS  OF  APPLYING  WATER 

the  opening  and  a  smaller  solid  plug  fitting  into  the  hole 
in  the  larger  plug.  By  operating  this  system  of  plugs 
different-sized  streams  may  be  obtained. 

The  operation  of  a  subirrigation  system  is  comparatively 
easy  when  the  construction  has  been  planned  properly, 
and  is  done  carefully.  Water  is  turned  into  the  main  feed 
pipe  and  streams  allowed  to  flow  into  the  lateral,  accord- 
ing to  the  amount  needed.  Each  irrigator  must  learn  by 
experience  the  quantity  required.  Subirrigation  is  slow, 
the  rapidity  depending  mostly  upon  the  porosity  of  the 
soil,  therefore,  each  lateral  must  be  supplied  according  to 
that  rate  that  the  soil  will  take  the  moisture  without  over- 
saturating  the  land  along  the  tile  line  before  the  water 
can  travel  outward  and  meet  between  the  individual 
laterals.  The  tendency  in  many  of  the  subirrigated  fields 
especially  when  flowing  wells  are  used  as  a  source  of  water 
supply,  is  to  overirrigate  by  allowing  the  water  to  run 
through  the  tile  continuously  until  the  waste  is  dis- 
charged into  the  drainage  system.  This  puts  an  excess 
of  moisture  into  the  soil  and  in  draining  out  results  not 
only  in  a  loss  of  water,  but  leaches  the  sandy  soils  of 
soluble  fertilizer. 

An  underlying  impervious  stratum  which  tends  to  hold 
the  moisture  in  place  is  the  condition  for  success  in  sub- 
irrigation.  This  stratum  may  be  hardpan,  clay,  rock,  or 
the  water  table.  In  other  words,  there  must  be  a  bot- 
tom to  support  the  water  while  it  makes  its  slow  transit 
laterally  and  upward  through  the  soil,  otherwise  there 
would  be  a  tendency  toward  a  heavy  loss  by  seepage 
before  lateral  distribution  could  take  place. 

The  generally  high  first  cost  of  a  subirrigation  system, 
ranging  from  $75  to  $125  per  acre  or  even  more,  makes 
it  necessary  to  estimate  carefully  on  the  value.  Prac- 

255 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

tically  all  of  the  subirrigated  land  in  Florida  needs  drain- 
age before  it  can  be  farmed,  therefore,  a  large  proportion 
of  the  expense  for  the  tile  system  can  be  properly  charged 
against  the  drainage.  The  subirrigated  sections  are  the 
truck  sections  also,  where  the  value  of  crops  each  year  is 
large  and  will  pay  interest  on  a  heavy  reclamation  invest- 
ment. The  plants  cultivated  should  have  such  short  root 
length  that  they  will  not  enter  the  shallow-laid  tile, 
obviating  many  difficulties  in  maintenance.  Celery,  let- 
tuce, cabbage,  potatoes,  and  nearly  all  other  truck  crops 
are  grown  by  subirrigation. 

CARING  FOR  WASTE  WATER 

The  necessity  of  making  provisions  for  taking  care  of 
the  excess  waters  is  obvious.  This  is  a  matter  to  which 
the  management  must  give  continuous  attention  as  being 
correlated  with  methods  of  applying  water  to  the  crops. 
In  some  respects,  in  the  matter  of  water  supply  an 
irrigated  field  may  be  considered  similar  to  a  town. 
As  soon  as  an  adequate  supply  of  water  is  provided  for 
a  town  and  the  old  system  of  obtaining  water  from  wells 
is  partly  done  away  with,  then  comes  the  immediate 
need  for  drainage  or  for  a  sewage  system  to  take  away 
the  waste  water. 

Theoretically,  the  waste  from  a  gravity  water-supply 
system  should  not  be  greater  than  that  from  the  old 
preexisting  methods,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact,  with  the 
better  facilities  for  obtaining  water  at  all  times,  there 
is  more  waste,  and  provision  must  be  made  for  its  dis- 
posal. This  is  frequently  overlooked  and  in  improving 
the  regularity  of  water  supply  and  distribution  sufficient 
attention  is  not  always  given  to  the  fact  that  as  soon  as 

256 


METHODS  OF  APPLYING  WATER 

the  water  is  adequate  in  quantity  then  there  will  be  more 
waste.  Hence,  the  necessity  arises  for  studying  the  rise 
of  ground  water  and  the  methods  of  relieving  the  soil 
of  the  excess  amount  of  water. 


LATE  FALL  IRRIGATION 

Closely  connected  with  the  methods  of  applying 
water  is  the  question  of  time  of  year  when  irrigation 
should  be  discontinued.  Whatever  date  is  set,  there 
are  usually  a  considerable  number  of  irrigators  who 
request  that  water  be  furnished  still  later  to  enable  them 
to  wet  the  fields  for  fall  plowing  or  to  fill  ponds  for  fur- 
nishing water  to  stock.  The  fall  pasturage  also  is  often 
an  important  item  and  to  maintain  this  in  good  condi- 
tion, water  must  at  times  be  kept  in  the  canals  after  the 
date  has  arrived  when  it  should  be  turned  out  and  the 
fall  clearing  and  repairs  begun.  There  is  thus  usually 
a  conflict  of  interests  between  certain  individuals  and 
of  the  community.  The  latter,  of  course,  is  concerned 
in  shortening  the  length  of  the  irrigation  season,  thus 
reducing  the  seepage  to  the  lands  and  decreasing  the 
operation  costs. 

The  quicker  irrigation  is  terminated,  toward  the  end 
of  the  crop  season,  the  less  is  the  cost  of  operation  and 
the  cheaper  the  annual  cost  of  maintenance.  Even 
more  important  is  the  lessening  of  possible  injury  to  lands 
by  prolonged  seepage;  the  sooner  the  water  can  be  turned 
out  in  the  fall  and  the  canals  allowed  to  dry,  the  quicker 
the  water  table  will  drop  and  the  less  the  possibility  of 
injury  to  the  agricultural  fields. 

Balanced  against  this  is  the  question  of  value  of  late 
fall  irrigation.  With  certain  soils  there  is  undoubtedly 

257 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

a  crop  gain  due  to  late  application  of  water.  In  par- 
ticular, on  the  lands  in  western  Nebraska,  experiments 
show  that  there  was  an  increase  in  yield  of  many  crops 
of  about  twenty  per  cent.,  due  to  water  applied  in 
September.  The  conclusion  reached  is  that  with  the  pos- 
sible exception  of  potatoes,  the  yields  of  all  crops  were 
increased  by  fall  irrigation  sufficiently  to  more  than 
pay  the  cost  of  the  work.  It  should  be  noted  that  in 
this  locality  the  rainfall  from  October  to  March  is  usually 
so  light  that  the  soil  is  frequently  too  dry  in  the  spring 
to  promote  germination  and  support  the  early  growth 
of  spring-planted  crops.  Under  these  conditions  it  is 
easy  to  see  that  by  irrigating  the  land  in  the  fall  after 
the  crops  are  harvested  there  should  be  an  improved 
condition  wherever  the  soil  is  of  such  character  as  to  re- 
tain a  portion  of  the  water  until  spring.  If,  however, 
the  soil  does  not  retain  moisture,  the  time  and  labor 
of  fall  irrigation  may  be  lost. 

This  condition  illustrates  the  fact  that  careful  considera- 
tion must  be  given  to  the  soil  as  well  as  to  the  climatic 
conditions,  and  that  the  irrigation  manager  must  be  thor- 
oughly informed  before  he  can  intelligently  apply  some 
of  these  general  rules. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE  PRODUCTS' 

Crop  to  be  Studied. — The  irrigation  manager  must 
bear  in  mind  continually  that  the  object  of  the  irriga- 
tion system  is  to  produce  crops  which  can  be  sold  or 
disposed  of  to  advantage  by  the  farmer.  While  it  is 
not  directly  his  duty  to  intervene  in  these  matters, 
yet  to  attain  success,  he  should  be  ready  at  all  times 
with  helpful  suggestions.  He  should  take  the  initiative 
in  a  quiet  way  toward  directing  the  attention  of  the 
farmers  toward  improvements  such  as  suggesting  crops 
better  adapted  for  the  soil  or  climate,  securing  better 
markets  for  these  crops,  or  working  up  the  raw  products 
into  the  more  valuable  forms. 

In  this  work,  the  state  agricultural  colleges  and  various^ 
bureaus  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture 
are  taking  action.  Through  farmers'  institutes,  through 
meetings  held,  particularly  in  the  winter,  through  the 
daily  or  weekly  papers,  and  in  many  other  ways  the 
irrigators  are  continually  learning  better  methods. 
There  is  resulting  a  gradual  development  of  better  crops 
and  markets.  Through  his  broad  knowledge  of  the 
conditions  of  water  supply  and  related  physical  facts, 
the  irrigation  manager,  more  than  any  other  man,  is 
in  a  position  to  be  of  aid  and  to  supply  the  initiative 
which  is  sometimes  lacking. 

Relative    \7alue  of  Irrigated  Crops. — There  is  a  great 
259 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

difference  in  relative  cost  and  value  of  the  various  irrigated 
crops,  not  only  with  reference  to  each  other  but  as  com- 
pared with  those  grown  without  irrigation.  There  has 
been  an  exaggerated  idea  of  the  value  of  irrigated  crops. 
This  is  due  largely  to  the  widespread  advertisement  of 
the  advantages  of  irrigation  for  the  purpose  of  attracting 
purchases  of  irrigation  securities  or  of  irrigated  lands. 
While  it  is  true  that  by  irrigating  larger  and  more 
certain  crops  can  and  should  be  had  than  by  depending 
upon  rainfall,  yet  it  does  not  follow  that  the  greater 
part  of  the  irrigators  have  made  use  of  these  advantages 
to  their  full  extent.  Many  have  been  prevented  from 
so  doing  through  lack  of  capital  or  experience.  Thus 
the  average  crop  values  obtained,  taking  in  account 
all  areas,  whether  well  handled  or  not,  is  far  less  than 
popularly  supposed. 

The  following  table  gives  a  fair  conception  of  the 
average  value  of  irrigated  crops  as  actually  obtained  on 
the  Government  projects.  This  average,  $23.50,  does 
not  vary  widely  from  that  prevailing  throughout  the 
arid  West.  It  would  be  a  great  mistake,  however,  to 
judge  the  success  of  irrigation  by  this  average,  because 
as  before  stated  it  is  greatly  reduced  by  the  inclusion 
of  thousands  of  acres  of  new  lands  poorly  handled  and 
from  which  little  return  was  realized.  It  illustrates,  how- 
ever, the  actual  condition,  and  when  compared  with  the 
totals  given  by  successful  irrigators,  indicates  that  great 
advances  may  be  made  when  larger  knowledge  is  diffused 
and  greater  skill  acquired. 

There  is  also  a  great  difference  in  the  relative  cost 
and  value  of  the  various  irrigated  crops,  especially  with 
regard  to  the  amount  of  capital  and  labor  required  to 
produce  and  market  them.  The  tendency  of  the  farmer 

260 


THE  PRODUCTS 


IRRIGATION   AND   CROP   RESULTS   ON   GOVERNMENT 
RECLAMATION   PROJECTS,    1914  * 


Project. 

Irrigable 
Acreage,  f 

Irrigated 
Acreage. 

Cropped 
Acreage. 

Value  of  Crops. 

Total. 

Per  Acre 
Cropped 

Salt  River  
Yurna. 

187,112 
60,000 
14,300 

52,338 
207,000 

173,030 
25,207 
7,354 

33,873 

169,719 
22,568 
6,540 

33,091 

$4,039,079 
709,409 
176,331 

870,381 

$23.80 
31.43 
26.99 

26.30 
17*80 
17.80 

Orland  
Uncompahgre 
Valley  
Boise  
Censused  lands 
Lands  not  cen- 
sused  1  
Minidoka  
Gravitj7"  unit  .  . 
S.  S.  Pumping 
Unit 

64,767 
18,823 

58,064 
16,868 

1,033,447 
300,140 

117,090 

28,808 
13,440 
16,346 

36,250 
91,504 
52,039 
20,261 
1,224 
40,000 
12,239 
17,000 
38,000 
68,852 
10,099 

81,807 
34,000 
41,166 

45,730 

35,788 
17,068 
2,201 
6,613 

5,743 
60,532 
39,516 
12,690 
1,224 
28,442 
1,056 
5,102 
24,440 
37,454 
7,740 

64,052 
20,600 
22,226 

39,138 

33,512 
17,068 
2,163 
6,561 

5,621 
59,536 
39,285 
10,731 
1,172 
27,302 
1,045 
3,013 
24,440 
36,709 
3,180 

49,273 
15,920 
20,905 

661,796 

558,059 
454,583 
34,618 
106,594 

96,707 
890,202 
441,018 
237,663 
21,458 
1,160,720 
36,440 
88,614 
347,344 
,461,188 
104,575 

2,858,845 
472,480 
313,826 

16.91 

16.65 
26.63 
16.00 
16.25 

17.20 
14.95 
11.23§ 
22.15 
18.31 
42.51 
34.87 
29.41 
14.22 
12.56 
32.88 

58.02 
29.60 
15.01 

Huntley  
Milk  River  
Sun  River  
Lower  Yellow- 
stone   
North  Platte.  .  .  . 
Truckee-Carson  . 
Carlsbad  

Hondo    . 

Rio  Grande  
N.  D.  Pumping.  . 
Umatilla  
Klamath 

Belle  Fourche.  .  . 
Okanogan  

Yakima  : 
Sunnyside  Unit 
Tieton  Unit  .  .  . 
Shoshone  

Total.  . 

1,240,875 

761,271 

703,424 

$16,475,517  $23.  50 

*  Data  are  for  calendar  year  (irrigation  season),  except  on  Salt  River 
project,  Ariz.,  data  are  for  corresponding  agricultural  year,  October, 
1913,  to  September,  1914. 

t  Area  Reclamation  Service  was  prepared  to  supply  water. 

j  Figures  for  lands  not  censused,  except  irrigated  acreage,  estimated 
from  figures  for  censused  lands. 

§$18.22  excluding  19,000  acres  native  pasture  land  at  $1.21  per  acre 
and  4,908  acres  otherwise  not  in  full  production. 

261 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

is  to  follow  somewhat  blindly  along  the  same  path 
year  after  year,  planting  the  same  crops  in  the  same 
way,  without  reference  to  the  fact  that  market  con- 
ditions are  changing  and  that  the  cost  of  producing 
a  crop  may  be  steadily  increasing  while  the  price  re- 
ceived is  slowly  decreasing.  This  is  a  matter  which 
is  being  given  more  and  more  attention  by  agricultural 
experts. 

The  irrigation  manager,  in  connection  with  the  col- 
lection of  the  statistics  and  through  his  acquaintance 
with  conditions,  should  be  able  to  make  suggestions  to 
the  agricultural  experts  and  to  others  such  as  may  attract 
the  attention  of  the  irrigators  and  cause  them  carefully 
to  consider  whether  or  not  certain  crops,  to  which  they 
are  accustomed,  are  really  the  most  valuable,  when  all 
of  the  facts  are  taken  into  consideration. 

A  little  study  or  consideration  of  the  cost  and  profits 
will  show  that  some  crops  which  are  considered  to  be 
the  basis  of  prosperity  of  the  country  are  really  not 
profitable  in  themselves,  or  that  when  all  facts  are 
taken  into  consideration,  they  are  not  yielding  as  large 
profits  as  others.  It  is  only  by  careful  study  of  these 
details  and  unprejudiced  consideration  of  the  subject 
such  as  comes  from  careful  farm  management,  that 
it  is  possible  to  arrive  at  any  valuable  conclusion  in  this 
regard. 

It  often  comes  as  a  decided  shock  to  some  of  the  older 
farmers  to  learn  that  the  crops,  concerning  which  they 
have  been  so  sure,  are  really  not  profitable  and  have 
been  consuming  their  investment  instead  of  adding  to 
its  value.  As  illustrative  of  this  condition,  is  the  case 
of  an  old  farmer  who  for  years  had  been  raising  wheat 
and  had  come  to  have  quite  a  reputation  as  a  farmer. 


THE  PRODUCTS 

His  lands  had  gradually  advanced  in  value  and  he 
had  acquired  a  comfortable  home.  To  his  great  aston- 
ishment, his  banker,  who  was  fully  aware  of  the  con- 
ditions on  the  farmer's  place,  showed  him  one  day 
that  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  was  not  the  profits  of  his 
wheat  which  had  made  him  relatively  well-to-do,  but 
it  was  really  the  thrift  of  his  wife  and  the  sale  of  poultry 
or  small  livestock  which  she  had  raised  that  had  made 
the  farm  a  success.  Ihe  wife  had  used  some  of  the 
grain  and  other  products,  had  kept  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  poultry,  had  brought  eggs  or  chickens  to  town 
every  time  she  came,  had  always  something  to  sell  in 
this  way,  and  had  a  credit  at  the  various  stores  where 
she  disposed  of  these  products.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
it  was  her  earnings,  the  use  of  the  by-products,  and  the 
gradual  increase  in  land  values,  and  not  the  sole  efforts 
of  the  farmer,  which  had  been  the  foundation  of  the 
success  of  the  family. 

Profit. — The  profits  on  an  irrigated  farm  come  mainly 
from  what  in  ordinary  manufacturing  is  known  as  the 
by-products.  The  daily,  customary  routine  of  producing 
the  common  field  crops  does  not  yield  a  profit  much 
above  the  wages  of  the  ordinary  day  laborer.  It  is  in 
the  working  up  of  the  side  lines,  the  manufacturing  of 
the  heavier  products  such  as  hay  and  grain  into  meat, 
butter,  and  eggs,  and  especially  the  utilization  of  the 
spare  time  or  intervals  which  otherwise  would  be  wasted 
in  non-productive  occupations  by  the  farmer  and  his 
family.  By  getting  up  early  and  working  late,  by 
utilizing  the  labor  of  the  children  in  ways  which  do 
not  stunt  their  growth,  by  using  all  the  otherwise  waste 
products  or  smaller  fruit  and  vegetables  of  the  farm, 
and  by  feeding  to  the  domestic  animals  and  poultry 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

everything  which  otherwise  might  be  lost,  the  net  earn- 
ings are  increased.  In  this  way  only  does  irrigation 
farming  become  profitable.  The  gains  come  as  a  rule 
not  through  the  larger  or  ordinary  field  crops.  Thus 
farming  under  irrigation  is  usually  successful  when 
confined  to  the  smaller  tracts  where  the  whole  family 
can  be  employed  and  it  is  independent  of  the  hired  man. 

Specialization. — The  success  of  irrigation  in  any  com- 
munity depends  largely  upon  specializing  in  some  one 
particular  crop  or  variety,  one  which  in  some  particular 
gives  that  locality  a  notable  advantage  over  other  places. 
This  may  be  through  ability  to  market  the  products 
earlier,  or  through  some  peculiar  quality  such  as  that 
of  flavor  of  fruit  or  accessibility  to  market.  For  example, 
the  Rocky  Ford,  Colorado,  melons  have  made  the  com- 
munity prosperous.  Their  popularity  is  the  result  of 
certain  qualities  developed  by  the  skill  of  a  small  group 
of  men  who  produced  them. 

The  Greeley  potato  at  one  time  was  the  foundation 
of  success  of  that  part  of  Colorado.  This  was  also  a 
result  of  certain  conditions  of  soil  found  at  that  time 
to  be  peculiarly  favorable  to  the  development  of  the 
potato,  and  later  lost  through  neglect.  In  the  same  way, 
the  Grand  Junction,  Colorado,  peach,  and  the  Hood 
River,  Oregon,  apple,  are  at  the  basis  of  the  prosperity 
of  communities  of  considerable  size. 

If  in  these  communities,  general  farming  had  been 
undertaken,  and  there  had  been  no  one  to  discriminate 
between  the  profitable  and  less  profitable  crops,  it  is 
probable  that  these  communities  would  have  gone  along 
as  other  agricultural  people,  with  relatively  small  earn- 
ings; but  because  in  each  place  there  was  a  man  or  group 
of  men  who  had  the  power  of  observation  and  the  initi- 

264 


THE  PRODUCTS 

ative  sufficient  to  follow  up  the  discoveries,  each  of  these 
localities  has  become  famous  in  its  way. 

Deterioration. — Accompanying  specialization  there  is 
always  a  danger  of  deterioration  through  lack  of  skill 
or  of  care  in  keeping  up  to  its  highest  standard  the 
particular  crop  grown  in  any  given  area.  This  is  the 
result  frequently  of  increased  prosperity  and  of  indif- 
ference, which  results  through  lack  of  competition  in 
the  market  for  these  crops.  Deterioration  of  crop  is 
also  closely  connected  with  deterioration  of  soil,  due 
to  excessive  use  of  water  or  to  neglect  of  some  of  the 
precautions  which  are  essential  for  success  in  agriculture. 

As  has  been  pointed  out  by  writers  on  the  subject, 
the  ease  with  which  crops  have  been  produced  on  some 
of  the  soils  of  the  West  has  caused  the  settlers  from  the 
humid  areas  to  lose  the  skill  which  through  necessity 
they  had  attained  under  the  older  and  harder  conditions 
in  the  East  or  in  Europe.  They  have  become  not  real 
farmers  but  "  soil  sappers  "  and  miners.  The  work  of 
soil  depletion  and  of  crop  deterioration  has  been  con- 
•tinued  with  little  check  so  that,  as  stated  by  agricultural 
experts,  the  history  of  American  farming,  except  in  some 
notable  instances,  is  a  record  of  profligate  waste  of  natural 
resources  and  of  soil  fertility.  This  waste  is  being  re- 
peated on  an  extensive  scale  under  the  irrigation  system 
in  the  western  part  of  the  United  States. 

Reduce  Waste. — The  lesson  to  be  emphasized  at  all 
times  is  the  vital  importance  of  reducing  waste.  While 
all  reasonable  efforts  should  be  made  to  grow  larger  and 
better  crops,  this  must  be  accomplished  by  the  practice 
of  those  principles  of  thrift  or  economy  which  are  essen- 
tial in  every  steady  occupation.  It  is  not  the  farmer 
who  produces  the  heaviest  crop  yields  per  acre  who  is 

265 


IHRIGATI.ON  MANAGEMENT 

most  prosperous.  The  principal  difference  between  the 
man  who  grows  the  largest  crops  and  who  has  at  the 
end  of  the  year  the  largest  net  increase  is  not  in  the 
income,  but  in  the  difference  between  income  and  outgo. 
The  vital  point  is  that  the  one  man  saves  more. 

To  save  more  does  not  necessarily  mean  to  earn 
money,  but  to  save  in  time  and  material  by  better  plan- 
ning and  performance.  The  man  who  saves  more 
follows  in  general  the  following  practices: 

He  does  not  try  to  farm  160  acres  when  he  can  better 
handle  80  acres. 

He  does  not  sacrifice  quality  for  quantity  in  crops  and 
livestock. 

He  does  not  put  good  feed  into  poor  quality  livestock. 

He  does  not  hire  help  to  raise  unprofitable  crops. 

He  does  not  hire  help  and  then  neglect  to  furnish  suit- 
able tools. 

He  does  not  buy  good  tools  and  then  neglect  them.1 

An  excellent  scheme  for  enforcing  these  and  similar 
rules  is  that  of  a  "  No  Wasters  Club."  The  members 
visit  each  other  in  a  body  and  discuss  causes  of  waste,- 
at  the  same  time  trying  to  point  out  methods  of  farming 
which  could  be  improved.  An  organization  of  this  kind 
efficiently  conducted  must  be  of  inestimable  value  to 
its  members. 

Experimental  Farm. — Every  irrigation  manager  or 
other  well-informed  person  connected  with  the  initiation 
of  an  irrigation  project,  is  impressed  with  the  importance 
of  having  correct  information  given  to  the  newly  arrived 
farmers,  concerning  the  capability  of  the  soils,  the  best 
crops,  and  the  proper  methods  of  distributing  water. 

1 1.  D.  O'Donnell  in  Reclamation  Record,  Aug.,  1915. 
266 


THE  PRODUCTS 

To  do  this  successfully,  requires  a  broad  knowledge 
not  merely  of  the  physical  conditions  of  soil  and  crops, 
but  also  of  the  probabilities  of  obtaining  a  good  market 
for  the  particular  kind  of  crops  which  are  to  be  raised. 
The  more  the  subject  is  studied,  the  more  difficult  it 
appears  to  the  man  in  responsible  charge.  He  soon 
recognizes  that  there  are  three  distinct  steps  in  this  matter 
of  giving  correct  information  and  advice  to  the  farmers: 

First.  The  experimental  farm  on  which  definite  tests 
can  be  made  as  regards  various  crops  grown  under 
different  conditions  of  cultivation. 

Second.  Demonstration  farms,  where  the  results  of 
the  experiments,  are  shown  to  the  farmers,  illustrating 
the  fact  that  the  methods  which  have  been  prescribed 
can  be  successfully  followed. 

Third.  Agricultural  advisers  or  agents,  who  can  go 
about  from  farm  to  farm,  collect  information  concerning 
the  success  of  the  farmer,  and  tactfully  give  suggestions 
or  advice,  diffusing  in  this  way  the  results  attained  at 
the  experimental  and  demonstration  farms,  impressing 
these  upon  the  farmer  without  at  the  same  time  arous- 
ing in  his  mind  any  resentment  at  being  given  unsought 
advice. 

The  experimental  farm  is  at  the  foundation  of  success 
of  a  new  project.  Theoretically  at  least  experiments 
should  be  conducted  for  a  number  of  years  before  advice 
is  given.  Unfortunately,  however,  under  the  present 
methods  of  development,  it  is  not  possible  to  wait  these 
years,  and  frequently  advice  is  sought  by  the-  farmers 
and  must  be  given  long  before  the  men  who  are  supposed 
to  know  the  conditions  really  have  full  and  correct  in- 
formation concerning  all  details.  Nevertheless,  the  ex- 
perimental farm  should  be  started  on  the  project  as  soon 

267 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

as  possible  and  carried  on  year  by  year,  trying  out  various 
crops  and  rotations  of  crops,  thus  affording  accurate 
information  concerning  the  conditions  for  success  which 
are  encountered  on  the  subject. 

Experimental  farms  of  this  kind  have  usually  been 
conducted  in  cooperation  with  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  or  under  its  immediate  supervision; 
with  the  state  agricultural  colleges;  or  better,  by  a  com- 
bination of  federal  and  state  employees.  The  informa- 
tion obtained  on  these  experimental  farms  has  value 
not  only  to  the  farmers  on  the  project  immediately  sur- 
rounding the  experimental  farms  but  also  as  adding  to 
the  general  knowledge  of  the  agricultural  resources  of 
the  state.  For  this  reason  the  cost  of  the  experimental 
farm  is  usually  borne  by  the  general  public,  as  the  public 
at  large  receives  the  principal  benefits. 

It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  these  experimental  farms 
will  at  once  hit  upon  the  best  combination  of  crops  and 
too  much  should  not  be  anticipated  of  them;  in  fact, 
much  of  the  best  work  is  to  a  certain  extent  negative 
in  character  in  showing  that  it  is  not  wise  to  attempt 
to  plant  certain  crops  which  have  been  successful  else- 
where nor  to  follow  certain  agricultural  practices  which 
are  believed  by  the  majority  of  the  farmers  to  be  best 
simply  because  of  the  fact  that  they  have  been  practiced 
in  their  former  homes. 

Demonstration  Farms. — It  is  necessary  to  keep  in  mind 
the  fact  that  the  demonstration  farms  are  operated  for 
an  entirely  distinct  purpose  from  that  of  the  experi- 
mental farm.  In  the  case  of  the  experimental  farm,  it 
is  assumed  at  the  outset  that  much  of  the  work  must 
be,  as  above  stated,  negative  in  character  in  showing 
that  it  is  not  desirable  to  cultivate  certain  types  of  crops. 

268 


THE  PRODUCTS 

On  the  demonstration  farm,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  assumed 
that  the  results  attained  demonstrate  the  success  of 
certain  practices  and  may  be  used  as  illustrations  to  en- 
force upon  the  attention  of  the  farmers  the  advantages 
of  following  a  certain  system  of  crop  production.  The 
experimental  farm  may  be  valuable  even  if  the  crops 
do  not  succeed,  but  the  demonstration  farm  to  be  of  use 
must  show  results  above  those  of  the  average  of  the 
community.  It  must  seek  to  attain  certain  high  stand- 
ards of  success,  and  yet  at  a  cost  such  as  to  insure  profit. 

The  selection  of  demonstration  farms  and  the  conduct 
of  these  is,  therefore,  generally  based  on  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent principle  of  procedure  from  that  of  the  experimental 
farm.  Best  results  can  usually  be  obtained  by  making 
arrangements  with  some  farmer  with  good  practical  sense 
and  wide  experience  to  devote  a  portion  of  his  farm  to  the 
demonstration  of  a  certain  method  of  cultivation  or  of 
variety  of  crop.  By  making  arrangements  with  such 
farmers  on  different  areas,  and  on  different  soils,  it  is 
possible,  at  the  minimum  expenditure,  to  illustrate  the 
particular  kind  of  crop  or  method  of  cultivation.  In 
making  these  arrangements,  care  must  be  taken  to  see 
to  it  that  the  farmer  follows  the  instructions  explicitly 
and  thoroughly  understands  the  theory  on  which  the 
demonstration  is  being  conducted. 

It  is  to  be  noted  in  this  connection  that  under  some  of 
the  irrigation  systems  these  demonstration  farms  have  not 
proved  an  unqualified  success.  In  fact,  occasionally  a 
farmer  who  has  followed  less  scientific  methods  has  been 
able  to  produce  better  crops.  Possibly  by  chance  he  has 
hit  on  a  better  scheme.  This  should  be  no  reflection  upon 
the  theory  of  good  crop  production;  rather  it  is  an  illus- 
tration of  the  fact  that  under  widely  varying  conditions 

269 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

of  soil,  climate,  and  especially  of  the  attitude  of  the 
farmer  himself,  it  is  not  always  possible  to  produce  the 
desired  results  or  to  anticipate  all  conditions.  It  also 
illustrates  the  point  that  arrangements  should  be  made 
for  a  number  of  demonstration  farms,  so  that  if  one  does 
not  succeed,  there  is  probability  that  another  will  do  so. 

On  some  of  the  larger  projects,  it  has  been  found  desir- 
able to  make  special  inducements  to  practical  farmers 
to  locate  within  the  reclaimed  area  with  the  hope  that 
by  their  example  they  will  stimulate  their  neighbors  and 
that  they  will  each  create  what  is  practically  a  demon- 
stration farm. 

Agricultural  Experts. — The  results  obtained  on  an  ex- 
perimental farm  or  illustrated  by  demonstration  farms 
will  be 'largely  lost  unless  it  is  the  duty  of  some  experi- 
enced and  capable  man  to  bring  these  results  to  the 
attention  of  the  farmers.  Theoretically,  this  could  be 
done  by  publication  in  the  local  papers  and  by  small 
bulletins  or  leaflets  sent  to  the  irrigators,  but  as  a  rule 
the  practical  farmer  is  very  busy.  He  does  not  have 
time  or  inclination  to  read  and  is  not  always  well  im- 
pressed with  the  statements  he  thus  receives.  If,  how- 
ever, arrangements  can  be  made  by  which  a  man,  who 
thoroughly  understands  the  theory  and  the  practice  of 
agriculture  in  the  particular  project,  goes  from  farm  to 
farm  and  personally  explains  the  conditions  which  have 
led  to  success  elsewhere,  then  the  highest  results  may  be 
had  from  the  work  which  has  been  carried  on  at  the 
experimental  farm  and  on  the  demonstration  tracts. 

The  first  qualification  for  such  an  agent  beyond  pro- 
fessional skill  and  knowledge  is  that  of  tact.  There  is 
probably  no  one  occupation  which  calls  for  the  constant 
exercise  of  this  valuable  quality  as  that  of  approaching 


THE  PRODUCTS 

the  average  farmer  who  believes  and  sometimes  bluntly 
states  that  "  you  cannot  tell  me  anything  about  farming." 
He  has  been  at  it  for  the  greater  part  of  a  lifetime  and 
knows  what  he  is  about.  Furthermore,  some  of  these 
farmers  resent  the  idea  of  gratuitous  advice  and  believe 
that  they  already  have  a  full  understanding  of  the  con- 
ditions and  that  the  agricultural  adviser,  who  is  some- 
times a  relatively  young-appearing  man,  cannot  possibly 
possess  the  experience  necessary  to  be  able  to  give  valu- 
able facts.  In  a  few  such  cases,  where  these  agents  or 
advisers  have  been  employed  by  an  irrigation  company 
and  where  their  advice  or  suggestions  have  been  followed 
perhaps  only  in  part,  but  with  lack  of  success,  the  farmers 
have  even  gone  to  the  point  of  attempting  to  bring  suit 
against  the  company  on  the  ground  that  the  advice  has 
been  injurious  to  them,  ignoring  the  fact  that  in  many 
cases  they  have  not  observed  the  precautions  which  were 
insisted  upon  by  the  agricultural  adviser. 

As  shown  by  experience,  it  is  not  wise  to  assume  that 
the  average  farmer  of  his  own  initiative  will  visit  the 
agricultural  experiment  farm  on  the  irrigation  project  or 
will  take  the  trouble  to  go  to  a  demonstration  farm  even 
in  his  neighborhood,  unless  it  has  been  clearly  shown  to 
him  that  he  will  derive  personal  advantage  by  so  doing. 
The  habitual  attitude  is  that  of  skepticism  toward  any 
theory  of  farming  and  while  many  a  farmer  says  that  he 
knows  there  is  an  experimental  or  demonstration  farm 
somewhere  in  the  vicinity  his  curiosity  has  not  been  suf- 
ficiently aroused  to  induce  him  to  visit  the  locality.  He 
does  not  appreciate  that  some  of  his  own  troubles,  those 
which  are  keeping  him  closely  confined  on  the  farm, 
might  be  solved  if  he  would  visit  his  neighbors  and  learn 
what  others  are  doing;  or  that  by  talking  with  the  director, 

271 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

of  the  experiment  farm  or  the  man  on  one  of  the  demon- 
stration farms,  he  might  learn  the  very  facts  for  which 
he  has  been  blindly  groping. 

The  most  successful  agricultural  adviser  or  agent  is  the 
man  who  in  approaching  the  farmer,  especially  for  the 
first  time,  does  not  pretend  to  any  special  knowledge  but 
on  the  contrary  assumes  the  attitude  of  one  who  is  trying 
to. learn  from  the  farmer  himself  what  are  the  existing 
conditions  and  what  is  the  result  of  the  farmer's  own 
experience.  Nearly  every  man  is  pleased  to  be  asked  his 
advice  on  familiar  points,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there 
are  few  farmers  but  have  some  valuable  experience  in  one 
line  or  another.  The  agricultural  agent,  therefore,  in 
asking  advice  or  suggestions  from  the  farmer,  who  may 
be  a  personal  stranger  to  him,  is  by  no  means  adopting 
a  false  attitude  when  he  asks  him  frankly  for  his  advice 
and  for  his  experience  on  a  particular  farm,  and  under 
the  surrounding  conditions.  It  frequently  occurs  that 
information  and  advice  thus  given  to  the  agricultural 
expert  may  add  notably  to  his  knowledge  of  the  physical 
conditions,  and  even  more,  of  the  human  conditions  to 
be  met. 

By  drawing  out  from  the  farmer  such  information  or 
advice  as  he  may  have,  an  opening  is  made  for  discussion 
and  for  giving  to  the  farmer,  even  though  he  may  be 
unresponsive  at  the  outset,  certain  valuable  ideas  which 
sink  in  and  later  take  root. 

The  agricultural  adviser,  or  missionary,  as  he  may  be 
called,  to  be  a  success,  must  be  something  of  a  specialist 
in  some  one  line,  so  that  in  such  particular  line,  he  may 
be  in  advance  of  all  of  the  people  on  the  project.  It 
must  be  admitted  that  taking  the  people  as  a  whole, 
their  collective  knowledge  far  exceeds  that  of  the  agri- 


THE  PRODUCTS 

cultural  adviser;  hence  in  order  to  retain  the  confidence 
of  the  people,  the  adviser  must  be  an  expert  on  some  one 
point  while  having  general  knowledge  of  others. 

The  experience  shows  that  these  agricultural  experts, 
fully  equipped  and  competent  to  give  advice  in  a  new 
country,  are  extremely  rare.  The  average  farmer  com- 
ing to  a  project  must  find  out  largely  for  himself  the 
methods  most  conducive  to  success.  He  can  be  greatly 
assisted  by  suggestions,  especially  if  these  are  given 
in  such  way  that  he  thinks  they  are,  in  part  at  least, 
his  own  discovery.  After  the  farmer  has  made  some 
mistakes  the  agricultural  adviser,  the  irrigation  man- 
ager and  his  assistants,  viewing  the  matter  sympatheti- 
cally by  a  few  well-directed  statements  and  questions 
regarding  what  others  have  accomplished,  may  induce 
the  farmer  to  reach  the  desired  conclusion. 

For  example,  in  one  case  it  was  evident  that  a  farmer 
who  was  stubbornly  adhering  to  certain  methods  of 
applying  water,  was  not  bringing  about  proper  plant 
growth.  It  was  useless  to  tell  him  of  this,  although 
the  records  of  water  delivery  showed  it  to  be  a  fact. 
When  the  farmer  had  come  to  a  realization  that  some- 
thing was  wrong,  the  irrigation  manager  spent  a  little 
time  on  his  farm;  and,  by  trying  certain  experiments 
in  the  sight  of  the  farmer  without  telling  him  where  he 
was  at  fault,  the  manager  led  him  to  reach  the  proper 
conclusion  for  himself.  No  amount  of  argument  could 
have  convinced  the  farmer  of  this  fact,  but  the  tactful 
abstaining  from  discussion  caused  him  to  do  a  little 
figuring  and  gave  him  the  joy  of  discovery  on  his  own 
part,  thus  enforcing  the  lesson  far  more  strongly  than 
could  have  been  done  by  any  outsider.  Little  can  be 
accomplished  in  such  matters  by  going  directly  to  the 

273 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

farmer  before  he  is  in  a  receptive  attitude.  The  best 
results  are  accomplished  when  conditions  have  shaped 
themselves  to  such  a  point  that  the  farmer  is  willing 
to  ask  a  question  and  to  give  full  weight  to  replies. 
Volunteered  information  may  sometimes  do  more  harm 
than  good. 

One  of  the  conditions  leading  to  greatest  success  in 
the  case  of  the  agricultural  adviser  is  in  connection  with 
some  highly  specialized  form  of  crop,  for  example,  of 
sugar  beet  or  of  Egyptian  cotton.  In  these  cases  the 
farmer  has  usually  had  little  experience  and  is  in  a 
receptive  attitude  with  reference  to  any  information 
that  may  be  given  to  him.  If,  therefore,  a  man  who 
is  a  sugar-beet  expert  and  who  has  been  accustomed  to 
working  with  the  farmers,  takes  up  this  subject,  the 
attitude  of  the  farmer  towards  him  is  one  of  respectful 
attention  rather  than  one  of  criticism  as  to  methods. 
The  expert  introducing  the  cultivation  of  the  sugar 
beet  has  thus  been  of  great  help  to  the  farmers  throughout 
the  arid  West,  not  merely  in  the  production  of  the  beet 
itself,  but  more  than  this,  in  bein^  able  to  give  direct 
and  effective  advice  to  the  farmer  concerning  all  of 
the  related  agricultural  operations  and  the  crops  which 
may  be  rotated  with  sugar  beets  as  well  as  the  methods 
of  preparing  the  soil  and  handling  the  sugar  beet  and 
the  other  crops. 

In  the  same  way,  the  introduction  of  Egyptian  cotton, 
a  practically  new  agricultural  product,  enables  the 
expert  not  only  to  give  sound  advice  regarding  the 
cultivation  of  cotton  itself,  but  more  than  this,  respecting 
the  methods  of  applying  water,  the  need  of  water  econ- 
omy, and  the  proper  handling  of  other  crops  which 
should  be  rotated  with  Egyptian  cotton.  It  is  through 

274 


THE  PRODUCTS 

the  introduction  of  these  highly  specialized  crops  that 
the  largest  and  best  development  of  scientific  agricul- 
ture may  be  brought  about,  and  the  farmers  may  be 
induced  to  listen  to  the  suggestions  which  lead  to  better 
farming  and  to  greater  economy  in  the  use  of  water. 
For  example,  in  the  cultivation  of  cotton,  it  is  gen- 
erally conceded  that  too  much  water  will  decrease  the 
value  of  the  crops.  This  lesson  once  learned  with 
reference  to  cotton  may  be  successfully  applied  to  the 
other  crops  where  the  losses  through  overirrigation  are 
not  as  immediate  or  directly  apparent  as  those  in  the 
case  of  the  cotton. 

Fertilizers. — At  least  two  fallacies  have  been  prev- 
alent in  irrigated  regions:  first,  that  irrigated  land  does 
not  require  any  artificial  fertilizer  because  of  the  fact 
that  the  water  itself  furnishes  the  fertility;  and  second, 
assuming  that  fertilization  is  needed,  the  same  kind  of 
fertilizer  which  has  been  found  of  advantage  in  the  old 
home  in  the  humid  region  may  be  used  with  success  on 
the  new  farm  in  the  irrigated  region. 

There  is  probably  no  one  item  of  expense  in  which 
the  farmer  has  been  more  extravagant  or  more  easily 
deceived  than  that  of  the  purchase  of  fertilizers.  The 
reason  is  obvious,  since  few  men  are  experts  on  the  chemi- 
cal and  physical  composition  of  the  fertilizers  which  are 
offered  on  the  market  or  on  the  effect  of  these  on  various 
soils  and  crops.  Usually,  the  farmer  goes  into  the  matter 
somewhat  blindly,  appreciating  only  the  fact  that  he 
wants  something;  and  purchases  whatever  may  happen 
to  be  offered.  He  may  later  discover  that  the  fertilizer 
selected  has  been  an  injury  rather  than  a  benefit  to 
his  land. 

As  regards  the  first  claim,  namely  that  irrigated  land 
275 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

does  not  require  artificial  fertilization,  this  erroneous 
statement  is  not  heard  as  often  as  in  the  early  days  of 
irrigation.  It  was  claimed  by  the  earlier  promoters  of 
irrigation  schemes  that  the  irrigating  water  brought  with 
it  river  silt  or  salts  in  solution  which  added  to  the  fer- 
tility of  the  land.  In  this  connection  the  fertility  of 
the  valley  of  the  Nile  was  eloquently  pictured.  It  is 
now  understood,  however,  that  even  in  Egypt,  it  has 
been  found  necessary  or  desirable  to  supplement  the 
Nile  water  with  some  form  of  artificial  fertilizer,  especially 
that  containing  nitrates  or  phosphates.  The  waters  of 
the  rivers  of  the  arid  region  of  the  western  part  of  the 
United  States  are,  however,  frequently  not  charged  with 
the  useful  salts  in  solution,  or  do  not  carry  the  silt  which 
is  at  all  comparable  in  value  with  the  red  water  of  the 
Nile.  The  deposits  left  on  the  ground  by  such  river 
waters,  if  any,  are  often  of  no  particular  value  in  adding 
to  the  fertility  of  the  soil. 

Most  of  the  soils  of  the  arid  region  are  deficient  in 
humus  or  in  organic  matter,  and  the  first  step  is  to  add 
this,  usually  by  the  growth  of  alfalfa,  clover,  peas,  or 
some  other  legume,  turning  in  the  green  crop  and  thus 
putting  the  nitrogenous  matter  directly  into  the  ground. 
If  properly  handled,  the  crop  production  during  the 
succeeding  years  is  increased  considerably  above  the 
value  of  the  green  crop  which  has  been  turned  under. 

This  simple  treatment  is  not  always  sufficient.  It 
may  be  desirable  or  even  necessary  to  supplement  this 
by  some  form  of  fertilizer,  usually  the  ordinary  stable 
or  barnyard  manure.  In  the  case  of  certain  soils  and 
crops,  it  has  been  found  profitable  to  purchase  artificial 
fertilizer.  Before  buying  such  material,  advice  should 
be  had  from  experts,  who  fully  understand  local  con- 

276 


THE  PRODUCTS 

ditions,  such,  for  example,  as  those  employed  at  the 
agricultural  experiment  stations. 

It  should  never  be  forgotten  that  the  soils  of  the  arid 
region  are  entirely  different  in  their  method  of  formation 
and  in  general  character  from  those  in  the  humid  region 
which  have  been  washed  by  the  copious  rainfall.  As 
a  rule,  the  arid  soils  have  an  excess  of  alkali,  while  those 
of  the  humid  region  may  be  somewhat  acid.  An  ele- 
mentary knowledge  of  chemistry  will  at  once  show  that 
the  treatment  of  the  two  classes  of  soil  must  be  radically 
different.  Yet,  ignoring  this  fact,  but  having  had 
years  of  experience  with  a  certain  brand  of  fertilizer, 
the  farmer  from  the  East  may  trust  to  his  old  experi- 
ence, purchase  the  highest-priced  material  and  apply 
it,  only  to  find  that  he  has  not  added  to  the  value  of  his 
crops. 

In  connection  with  fertilization,  attention  may  be  called 
to  the  fact  that  economy  of  water  is  promoted  by  thor- 
ough fertilization  of  the  soil.  Quoting  from  "  Egyptian 
Irrigation  "  by  Sir  William  Willcocks,  page  763: 

It  would  be  a  healthy  innovation,  indeed,  if  the  provision  of 
suitable  manures  were  to  be  considered  as  an  essential  part  of 
the  project  for  providing  perennial  irrigation.  The  day  is  not 
distant,  I  believe,  when  governments  which  provide  irrigation 
works  will  also  provide  manures,  and  sell  the  water  and  manures 
together,  one  being  as  essential  as  the  other;  I  know  well,  from 
observation,  that  a  well-manured  field  needs  only  half  the  water 
that  a  poorly  manured  field  does;  and  in  years  of  drought  and 
scarcity  manures  almost  take  the  place  of  irrigation.  Why 
should  there  not  be  a  manure  rate  as  well  as  a  water  rate?  Here 
in  Egypt,  the  numerous  ruins  of  old-world  cities  have  hitherto 
provided  manure  for  a  great  part  of  the  perennially  irrigated 
lands;  but  these  are  being  fast  worked  out,  and  other  sources 

277 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

must  be  sought  for.    Farmyard  manure  will  never  suffice  for 
the  intense  cultivation  in  this  country. 

The  irrigation  manager  should  at  all  times  call  atten- 
tion to  these  striking  points  and  the  necessity  of  giving 
careful  attention  to  each  type  of  soil,  urging  upon  the 
individual  irrigators  the  importance  of  utilizing  the  facili- 
ties offered  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  of  the 
state  experiment  station. 

The  commercial  value,  or  market  cost,  and  the  agri- 
cultural value  of  fertilizers  are  in  no  way  related.  The 
choice  of  the  kind  of  plant  food  to  be  purchased  should 
be  based  on  the  knowledge  of  the  needs  of  the  partic- 
ular crop  and  soil  to  be  treated.  Only  after  this  is 
decided,  should  the  cost  of  the  fertilizer  be  considered, 
when  the  particular  kind  of  the  fertilizer  supplying  the 
ingredients  desired  will  be  selected  according  to  its 
agricultural  availability  and  cost.1 

Cattle  on  the  Farm. — The  matter  of  fertilization  empha- 
sizes the  necessity  of  having  an  adequate  number  of 
cattle  on  the  farm.  The  average  irrigator  who  raises 
the  ordinary  grain  or  root  crops,  or  sells  alfalfa  off  the 
farm,  is  usually  impoverishing  the  soil  and  depriving 
the  farm  of  its  fertility.  The  ideal  condition  is  that,  as 
in  the  other  business,  of  working  up  all  the  raw  products 
into  the  most  condensed  form;  not  selling  the  bulky 
produce  off  the  farm,  but  manufacturing  it  into  the  most 
valuable  condition  of  milk,  butter,  eggs,  poultry,  pork, 
mutton,  or  beef.  This  means  that  the  raising  of  the  or- 
dinary field  crops  must  be  supplemented  by  the  feeding 

1  Commercial  Fertilizer,  by  John  Burd,  Bulletin  245,  Agri- 
cultural Experiment  Station,  Berkeley,  California. 

278 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

WATER  USER  CENSUS 


The  Water  User  | 

Name 

Address 

Owner  or  renter? 

Previous  occupation 

Previous  location 

Date  of  settlement 

Number  of  people  on  farm 

Years  experience  in  humid  farming               ;  in  irrigation  farming 

1 

a 

Subdivision                 Sec. 

T.              R.              M. 

Subdivision                 Sec. 

T.              R.              M. 

Subdivision                 Sec. 

T.              R.              M. 

Acres  in  farm,  total 

;  irrigable             ;  seeped         ;  drained 

Acres  cleared  and  leveled 

;  cost  per  acre  of  clearing  and  leveling  $ 

Total  cost  of  all  other  improvements,  $ 

Purchase  price  of  farm  without  improvements,  $ 

Present  value  of  farm  with  improvements,  $ 

|  The  Stock  and  Equipment  | 

Kind. 

Number. 

Value. 

Horses 

Mules 

Cattle 

Sheep 

Hogs 

Fowls 

Hives  of  bees 

Total  

Equipment  

$ 

Grand  Total  

I 

In  listing  crops  (other  side) :  under  BEANS  include  white  and  brown 
beans  raised  for  market  for  human  food;  under  CANE  include  sugar 
and  sorghum  canes;  under  CORN,  INDIAN,  include  all  varieties  of 
Indian  field  corn;  under  CORN,  SORGHUM,  include  the  Sorghum 
family,  such  as  Kaffir  corns,  Milo  maize,  Jerusalem  corn  and  Egyptian 
rice  corn,  raised  for  grain;  under  CORN,  FODDER,  include  stover 
or  fodder  harvested  either  from  Indian  or  Sorghum  corns;  under 
FRUITS,  SMALL,  include  berries,  currants,  grapes,  cherries,  plums, 
olives,  dates  and  figs;  under  GARDEN,  include  the  family  garden 
and  all  truck  crops  grown  for  market  and  not  given  in  the  printed 
list;  under  PEAS,  include  all  threshed  field  peas,  soy-beans,  cow-peas 
and  the  like;  under  WHEAT  include  all  common  wheats,  macaroni 
wheats,  spelt  and  emmer  raised  for  grain;  under  EACH  CROP 
include  any  acreage  on  which  the  crop  failed  and  compute  the  average 
yield  from  the  total  acreage  of  the  crop. 

Remarks 


.191. 


Water  User  or  Rider. 


279 


THE  PRODUCTS 


Kind. 

Acres. 

Yield. 

Value. 

Unit. 

Per 
Acre. 

Total. 

Per 
Unit. 

Per 
Acre. 

Total. 

Alfalfa  Hay  

ton 

$ 

$ 

$ 

Alfalfa  Seed  

bu. 

Apples  

Ib. 

Barley  

bu. 

Beans  

bu. 

Beets,  Sugar  

ton 

Lane  

ton 

Clover  Hay  

ton 

Clover  Seed  ; 

bu. 

Corn,  Indian  

bu. 

Corn,  Sorghum.  .  .  . 

bu. 

Corn,  Fodder  

ton 

Cotton  

Ib. 

Flax  

bu. 

Fruits,  Citrus  

Ib. 

Fruits,  Small  

Ib. 

Garden  

— 

— 

— 

— 

Hay  *  

ton 

Hops  

Ib. 

Millet  Seed  

bu. 

Oats  

bu. 

Onionsf  

bu. 

Pasture  

— 

— 

— 

— 

Peaches  

Ib. 

Pears  

Ib. 

Peas  

bu. 

Prunes  

Ib. 

Potatoes,  C.t  

bu. 

Potatoes,  S  

bu. 

Rye  

bu. 

Wheat  

bu. 

Miscellaneous  

Total  acreage  

Total  value  $ 

Less  arceage 
counted  twice 

Average  value  per  acre  $ 

Net  acreage 
cropped 

Total             Non-bearing  orcl 
irrigated    Young  alfalfa  (no 
acreage      Ground  faii_piow 

Miscellaneous 

Total 

*  Except  alfalfa  and  clover 
hav. 
t  Onions  raised  for  market. 
J  Common.               §  Sweet. 

ed      " 

Less  acreage  of  crops  grown  in  non-bearing  orchard,  young 

alfalfa  ground  fall-plowed,  etc • 

Net  area  irrigated  without  crop - 

Net  acreage  cropped  (see  above) « 

Total  irrigated  acreage - 

280 


THE  PRODUCTS 

of  cattle,  giving  employment  to  the  farmer  and  his 
family  throughout  the  year,  rather  than  concentrating 
his  work  during  the  summer  months,  and  losing  the  value 
of  his  time  during  the  other  months. 

The  farmer,  in  fact,  is  a  manufacturer,  and  like  the 
manufacturer  must  study  all  economies  of  time  and 
materials,  not  permitting  his  equipment  to  lie  idle  for 
a  great  part  of  the  year  for  lack  of  use.  By  feeding 
his  own  crops  during  the  winter,  by  attending  to  all  the 
small  economies  of  the  farm,  by  sending  to  town  from 
time  to  time  the  products  above  noted  of  eggs,  poultry, 
etc.,  there  is  a  steady  gain  as  compared  to  the  farmer 
who  raises  one  or  two  kinds  of  crops,  sells  these,  and  is 
only  partly  occupied  during  the  winter.  He,  as  a  rule, 
hardly  makes  a  day's  wages,  taking  the  year  through 
and  comparing  one  year  with  another. 

Crop  Reports. — It  is  of  great  importance  to  the  proj- 
ect manager  that  he  have  taken  at  the  end  of  each 
season  a  full  statement  regarding  the  general  financial 
condition  of  the  farmers  and  particularly  of  the  ap- 
proximate amount  and  value  of  the  crops  which  have 
been  raised.  Without  definite  information  of  this  kind 
it  is  impossible  to  state  definitely  what  progress  is  being 
made,  or  to  bring  to  the  attention  of  the  water  users  those 
improvements  or  economies  which  are  the  foundation 
for  success.  The  crop  reports  can  generally  be  most 
easily  and  effectively  taken  by  the  canal-riders  and 
other  men  who  are  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  country, 
who  know  the  farmers,  and  who  can  readily  prepare 
answers  to  most  of  the  questions,  supplying  details  of 
the  crop  report  for  each  farm  by  a  few  interrogations. 
It  is  desirable  to  avoid  as  far  as  possible  anything  which 
is  inquisitorial  in  character,  but  on  the  contrary  to  fill 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

in  the  blanks  from  general  knowledge  and  only  ask  such 
questions  as  may  be  regarded  as  proper  by  the  farmer. 

In  obtaining  these  crop  reports,  the  effort  should  be 
made  to  limit  the  statements  to  a  few  of  the  larger  facts 
which  are  readily  obtainable.  The  temptation  is  always 
to  expand  along  various  lines  and  finally  reach  an  elabora- 
tion which  results  in  breaking  down  the  entire  system. 
Simplicity,  therefore,  must  first  be  sought  and  then,  if 
necessary,  general  conclusions  can  be  added  to  supple- 
ment the  simple  facts  which  are  obtained;  it  is  probably 
better  for  the  project  manager  to  elaborate  on  these 
details  himself  rather  than  to  try  to  obtain  very  full  or 
complete  reports  concerning  each  farm. 

The  principal  statistics  which  are  needed  include  first 
the  human  element,  that  is,  some  facts  concerning  the 
farmer,  the  size  of  his  family,  his  previous  occupation 
or  location,  the  number  of  years  he  has  been  on  the  farm, 
and  the  number  of  persons  in  his  family,  combined 
perhaps  with  a  brief  statement  as  to  his  previous  experi- 
ence as  an  irrigator  or  in  dry  farming. 

Next  in  order  comes  the  size  of  the  farm,  the  irrigable 
area,  the  amount  which  is  seeped  or  injured  by  alkali, 
the  number  of  acres  cleared  and  leveled,  the  cost  of 
improvements,  and  the  purchase  price  or  value  of  the 
farm. 

Then  in  logical  order  are  certain  questions  concerning 
the  kind  and  number  of  horses,  cattle,  hogs,  fowls,  etc., 
on  the  place,  and  the  total  value  of  the  equipment. 

Taking  up  then  in  some  detail  the  character  of  crops 
raised,  we  have  in  alphabetic  order,  alfalfa,  apples, 
barley,  beans,  etc.,  giving  the  yield  per  acre  in  tons 
or  other  units  and  the  value  per  acre.  It  is  necessary 
to  provide  a  blank  with  a  considerable  number  of  spaces 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 


l| 

2l 

sf 

OS 

—  I 

| 

3 

^0 

rear  o 

"3 

o 
H 

*S          —  ^ 

PH 

| 

I 

c3 

o 

T- 

^ 

d 

C 

^ 

"3 

•g 

£ 

I 

1 

o 
H 

"C 

c 
p, 

g 

^ 
c 

1 

1 
g 

ci 

M 

^ 

• 

p 

— 

BO 

| 

1 

PU 

a 

E 

1 

1 

| 

ea 

• 

J>H 

be 

0) 

^~ 

- 

t: 

— 

** 

j 

<o 

?able  arez 

C 

ce 

1 

.rf 

t- 

0, 

8 

1 

g 

I 

"3 

1 

; 

1 

•c 

I 

• 

<- 

c 

"ri 

IM 

o 

H 

c 
H 

S 

H 

11 

o 

5 

' 

, 

X 

S 

0 

rt 

rr 

"S 

cropped 

i 

"S 

c 

3 

a 
1 

i 

z 
7- 

p, 

3 

rr 

3 

"E 
•c 

o 
1 

u 

« 

I 

J 

H 

"o 

H 

doio  siqj  jo  uoiionpoij 

sasodind  Jaqjo 

•c 

S 

joi  pa^Sixij 

a 

283 


THE  PRODUCTS 

INSTRUCTIONS  FOR  CROP  YIELD  REPORT 

1.  The  crop  yield  report  shall  be  included  in  the  annual 
operation  and  maintenance  report,  and  an  advance  copy  shall 
be  sent  to  the  Director  as  soon  after  its  compilation  as  possible. 

2.  All  crops  shall  be  listed  separately  in  the  report  in  alpha- 
betical order. 

3.  For  sake  of  uniformity,  the  unit  of  yield  shall  be  the  ton 
for  forage  crops  and  sugar  beets,  the  bushel  for  grains  and  other 
vegetables  and  the  pound  for  fruits. 

4.  The  values  per  units  of  yield  shall  be  the  local  market 
price  of  the  crops. 

5.  Pastures  shall  be  included  under  areas  irrigated  for  crop 
purposes  and  the  value  thereof  per  acre  shall  be  considered 
to  be  the  same  as  that  of  an  acre  of  hay  land  on  the  same 
farm. 

6.  Duplicated  areas  resulting  from  growing  grass  and  grain 
on  the  same  land,  from  raising  crops  in  bearing  orchards  and 
from   other   similar   methods   of   cropping   shall   be   carefully 
ascertained  and  deducted. 

7.  In    reporting    areas    irrigated    for    other    purposes    than 
cropping,   there  shall  be  included   non-bearing  orchards,   fall 
seeded  grass  fields  and  fields   irrigated   for  the  purposes  of 
cultivation  only. 

8.  There   shall  be  deducted  from  areas  irrigated  for  other 
than  cropping  purposes,  areas  of  crops  raised  in  non-bearing 
orchards  and  other  similar  areas. 

9.  Owing  to  the  general  nature  of  the  information  given  in 
this  report,  the  use  of  decimals  shall  be  reduced  to  the  lowest 
practicable  minimum  consistent  with  reasonable  accuracy. 

10.  When  the  spaces  on  one  sheet  are  not  sufficient  to  list 
all  of  the  different  kinds  of  crops  raised  on  the  project  an 
additional  sheet  should  be  used  and  the  totals  and  areas  entered 
on  the  last  sheet. 


284 


THE  PRODUCTS 

for  various  crops,  although  one  farmer  seldom  raises 
more  than  half  a  dozen  things. 

Following  is  the  form  of  crop  report  or  census  for 
each  individual  water  user  which  has  been  adopted 
by  the  United  States  Reclamation  Service  and  found 
to  cover  the  conditions  among  its  twenty  thousand 
or  more  water  users.  At  first  sight  it  appears  some- 
what formidable,  but  in  actual  use  it  has  been  found  to 
be  economical  and  capable  of  being  compiled  very 
quickly  by  men  who  are  familiar  with  the  locality. 

After  data  for  the  individual  farms  have  been  brought 
together  by  the  watermasters,  canal-riders,  or  others 
who  have  been  detailed  for  the  purpose,  then  the  results 
are  compiled  in  the  office  of  the  irrigation  manager 
and  arranged  somewhat  in  the  shape  shown  by  the 
following  blank,  which  gives  the  total  acreage  in  each 
kind  of  crop,  the  unit  of  yield,  and  the  average,  to- 
gether with  the  maximum  or  minimum  yield  and  the 
value.  The  crops  are  listed  in  alphabetical  order  for 
convenience  of  reference. 

In  these  statistics  pastures  are  included  under  areas 
irrigated  for  crop  purposes,  and  the  value  per  acre  is 
considered  to  be  comparable  to  that  of  an  acre  of  hay 
land  on  the  same  farm.  This  of  course  increases  the 
acreage  and  decreases  the  average  value  per  acre  of 
hay  correspondingly. 

In  the  case  of  duplicated  areas  resulting  from  growing 
grass  and  grain  on  the  same  land  during  the  year  or 
from  raising  crops  in  bearing  orchards,  careful  allowance 
should  be  made  as  well  as  a  statement  of  the  duplication. 


CHAPTER  XV 
CONCLUSIONS 

Financial  Conditions  of  Irrigation  Systems. — The  nor- 
mal condition  of  all  large  irrigation  projects,  during  early 
years  at  least,  is  that  of  extreme  financial  distress  border- 
ing upon  bankruptcy.  The  exceptions  to  this  rule  are 
so  notable  that  they  stand  as  shining  examples  of  what 
may  be  hoped.  It  is  well  for  the  irrigation  manager  to 
bear  this  in  mind  and  not  become  discouraged  because 
of  the  difficulties  which  arise  from  lack  of  adequate 
funds  to  carry  out  his  ideals  or  even  to  meet  the  con- 
ditions which  he  sees  are  almost  imperative.  The 
reason  of  this  financial  stringency  is  not  far  to  seek. 
It  should  have  been  apparent  years  ago,  but  was  largely 
ignored  or  overlooked  in  the  promoting  of  various  large 
irrigation  projects.  The  causes  lie  in  the  fact  that 
farming  as  a  whole  is  not  particularly  remunerative  and 
that  the  average  farmer  is  earning  only  about  day  wages. 
That  this  is  the  case  is  evident  from  the  statistics  of 
the  United  States  Government  and  from  common  knowl- 
edge of  the  conditions  of  the  farming  communities. 

Irrigated  farms  are  no  exception  to  the  general  rule. 
There  are  always  to  be  pointed  out  striking  examples  of 
great  success  attained  by  individuals  who  have  carefully 
used  the  water,,  employing  skill  and  good  sense,  and 
practicing  self-denial.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are 
many  cases  of  failure,  so  that  the  average  irrigator  is 

286 


CONCLUSIONS 

not  much  better  off  financially  than  the  farmer  in  humid 
lands,  although  theoretically  he  should  be  far  more 
successful. 

The  question  may  be  asked,  "  Why  do  we  expect  the 
irrigator  to  make  a  larger  average  profit  than  the  dry 
farmer? "  The  reply  is  that  irrigation  should  mean 
intensive  farming.  In  a  country  where  the  sunshine, 
the  source  of  all  energy,  continues  through  nearly  every 
day  of  the  year,  and  where  the  farmer  has  fairly  reasona- 
ble control  of  his  water,  he  should  be  able  to  bring  these 
great  factors  of  sunshine  and  water  together  and  by 
intelligent  application,  confined  to  a  small  area  of  land, 
produce  crops  with  great  certainty.  In  other  words,  he 
has  within  his  personal  control  more  of  the  factors  of 
success  than  in  the  case  of  the  farmer  in  the  humid 
region. 

Failure  to  attain  this  theoretically  possible  success 
is  due  primarily  to  lack  of  capital  of  the  newcomers, 
many  of  them  starting  in  with  a  very  small  amount  of 
money,  say  $1,500,  to  acquire  a  farm,  subdue  the  soil, 
stock  the  place,  provide  all  the  necessary  improvements, 
support  the  family  and  carry  on  a  business  which  for 
assured  success  requires  an  investment  of  at  least  $15,000. 
The  fact  that  so-  many  succeed  is  one  of  the  strongest 
evidences  of  the  advantage  of  agriculture  by  irrigation 
over  the  other  types  of  business  investment.  In  fact, 
looking  at  it  from  this  standpoint  we  should  be  surprised 
rather  than  disappointed  at  the  result. 

To  attain  even  moderate  success  under  irrigation,  re- 
quires years  of  effort,  considerable  capital,  and  some 
experience.  It  has  been  assumed  in  the  past  that  all  that 
it  was  necessary  to  do  in  order  to  bring  about  prosperity 
in  an  arid  region  was  to  put  water  upon  the  soil  and  that 

287 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

thereupon  people  would  flock  to  cultivate  the  ground, 
would  raise  large  crops,  and  readily  repay  the  investment 
made.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  has  been  found  that  this 
simple  and  direct  road  to  fortune  for  the  promoter  and 
pioneer  has  many  crooks  and  narrow  passages.  The 
leveling  and  subduing  of  the  soil  requires  time,  strength, 
and  skill.  The  selection  of  proper  crops  and  methods  of 
cultivating  is  a  matter  sometimes  of  years  of  experiment. 
After  improvements  have  been  made  on  the  farm  and 
the  soil  brought  into  productive  condition,  comes  the 
question  as  to  what  to  do  with  the  products,  where  to 
find  a  market — especially  when  all  of  the  neighbors  are 
raising  an  excess  of  the  same  crop.  At  the  same  time 
arise  the  perplexities  of  various  pests  and  plant  diseases. 
When  the  pioneer  comes  to  a  country  it  is  comparatively 
free  from  these — there  are  few,  if  any,  bugs  or  blight — but 
with  the  development  of  the  country  and  the  bringing 
in  of  new  plants  there  come  also  the  pests  which  accom- 
pany these.  Under  the  new  conditions  many  of  these 
flourish  with  surprising  vigor,  requiring  perhaps  years  of 
study  to  learn  what  are  their  natural  enemies,  what  proc- 
ess may  be  followed  to  eradicate  them  or  hold  them 
in  check. 

Ultimately  all  of  these  and  other  questions  are  solved, 
but  in  the  meantime,  years  have  elapsed,  the  interest 
charges  or  cost  of  operation  and  maintenance  have 
mounted  up,  and  the  investment,  if  made  by  individuals 
or  corporations,  has  gradually  been  dissipated  in  the  effort 
to  keep  the  works  going. 

During  the  first  few  years  after  a  project  has  been 
completed,  even  the  cost  of  operating  and  maintaining 
the  works  can  with  difficulty  be  met  by  the  farmers  who 
are  on  the  ground.  Usually  only  a  small  part  of  the 

288 


CONCLUSIONS 

total  ultimate  population  has  reached  the  spot,  and  the 
few  hundred  farmers  must  maintain  a  system  provided 
for  perhaps  two  or  three  times  as  many.  These  farmers 
also  have  brought  under  cultivation  only  a  part  of  their 
farms  and  must  pay  for  water  for  say  eighty  acres  out 
of  the  products  of  twenty  acres.  Each  year  the  pay- 
ments become  relatively  easier  as  more  and  more  land  is 
brought  under  cultivation  and  as  greater  success  is  at- 
tained with  the  crops;  but  with  an  occasional  bad  year 
or  failure  to  secure  markets,  the  progress  while  upward 
is  necessarily  slow;  far  more  so,  as  above  stated,  than  is 
the  growth  of  the  interest  charge  or  of  the  operation  and 
maintenance  expenses.  Ultimately  these  will  be  met,  but 
in  the  first  few  years,  perhaps  during  ten  years,  the  outgo 
so  far  exceeds  the  income  that  bankruptcy  threatens. 
The  condition  of  the  project  manager  under  these  limi- 
tations and  with  hundreds  of  new  farmers  more  or  less 
dissatisfied  because  they  do  not  know  exactly  what  is 
proper  to  expect  is  indeed  not  enviable.  He  can  main- 
tain his  mental  poise  only  through  the  knowledge  that 
other  people  are  having  as  great,  *f  not  greater  trouble 
than  he  is,  and  that  a  happy  issue  is  to  be  expected. 

Transfer  of  Control. — The  irrigation  project  built  by  a 
corporation  or  by  the  Government  is  destined  ultimately 
to  go  into  the  hands  of  the  water  users.  The  sooner  this 
transfer  is  made,  the  better  for  all  concerned  if  the  water 
users  will  accept  the  full  responsibility  and  employ  men 
of  large  experience.  The  manager  who  is  thus  acting  as 
agent  of  the  original  builders  must  look  forward  to  the 
time  when  the  water  users  themselves  will  exercise  more 
direct  control  and  make  such  provision  as  may  be  neces- 
sary towards  aiding  the  water  users  in  appreciating  the 
responsibilities  which  they  should  assume. 

289 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

The  manager  of  the  project  which  has  already  passed 
through  this  period  and  which  is  being  operated  and 
managed  by  the  water  users  themselves,  has,  of  course, 
a  somewhat  different  set  of  problems,  but  the  manager 
who,  as  above  stated,  is  acting  for  the  Government  or 
for  an  outside  corporation,  must  make  a  definite  effort 
to  bring  to  his  water  users  a  realization  of  future  duties. 
It  is  apparent  that  there  cannot  safely  be  any  divided 
control,  but  as  the  irrigators  acquire  more  experience 
there  should  be  put  upon  them  a  larger  and  larger  share 
of  definite  responsibility.  The  heterogeneous  mass  of 
settlers  when  first  brought  together  on  a  new  project 
evidently  do  not  have  sufficient  acquaintance  with  each 
other  or  with  the  country,  nor  experience  in  business,  to 
handle  in  a  successful  manner  a  large  irrigation  system. 
After  a  few  years,  however,  the  social  order  gradually 
establishes  itself,  experience  teaches  many  important  facts, 
and  it  becomes  possible  for  the  irrigators  to  pass  upon 
certain  problems.  This  they  should  be  urged  to  do, 
otherwise  they  have  no  conception  of  the  difficulties 
involved  nor  appreciation  of  the  efforts  and  the  results 
attained  by  the  project  manager. 

The  immediate  convenience  or  economies  of  admin- 
istration should  not  be  permitted  to  overweigh  the  neces- 
sity and  desirability  of  giving  the  settlers  experience  in 
these  matters,  so  that  when  the  time  arrives  when  they 
must  operate  the  canal  system  as  an  incorporated  body, 
they  can  do  this  upon  the  basis  of  actual  results.  This 
experience,  however,  should  be  obtained  in  a  small  way 
at  first,  where  the  outcome  will  not  be  destructive.  It 
is  better  to  endure  the  disappointments  or  occasional 
hardships  of  community  management  of  certain  details 
on  a  small  scale,  if  by  so  doing  experience  is  gained  which 

290 


CONCLUSIONS 

will  ultimately  lead  to  the  safe  operation  of  the  entire 
system. 

There  are  in  the  United  States  few  large  irrigation 
systems  except  those  recently  constructed  by  the  Govern- 
ment and  Carey  projects,  which  are  not  operated  under 
the  cooperative  plan  by  the  irrigators,  and  it  is  doubted 
whether  it  is  practicable  for  an  irrigation  system  to  be 
operated  in  the  United  States  for  any  very  long  period 
of  time  on  any  other  basis  than  directly  by  the  settlers. 

Arousing  a  Social  Conscience. — The  difficulties  which 
have  been  experienced  in  the  past  in  the  transfer  of 
responsible  control  of  large  irrigation  works  to  the  irri- 
gators have  grown  out  of  ignorance  and  lack  of  devel- 
opment of  what  may  be  called  a  community  conscience. 
An  irrigation  project  completed  under  the  terms  of  the 
Reclamation  Act,  Carey  Act,  or  District  Law,  is  a 
highly  complicated  and  extremely  expensive  piece  of 
machinery,  comparable  to  a  railroad  system  or  a  large 
manufacturing  establishment.  If  we  imagine  a  large 
railroad  or  mill,  furnishing  occupation  to  thousands  of 
men,  transferred  to  the  control  of  these  men  to  be 
operated  by  them,  we  have  about  the  condition  which 
exists  when  a  large  irrigation  project  is  turned  over 
to  the  landowners.  In  some  cases  there  has  resulted 
confusion  or  even  disaster  until  the  entire  body  of  men 
concerned  have  been  educated  through  their  losses  to 
the  observance  of  certain  well-established  principles. 
The  problem  is  to  try  to  avoid  these  losses  and  the 
expensive  education  which  in  the  past  has  seemed  nec- 
essary, by  adopting  certain  precautions  and  anticipating 
the  dangers  which  arise  from  the  change. 

The  successful  operation  of  any  large  social  organiza- 
tion embracing  hundreds  or  thousands  of  individuals 

291 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

must  rest  upon  well-developed  public  opinion  on  the 
fundamentals.  That  is  to  say,  no  laws  or  regulations 
can  be  adequately  enforced  in  a  cooperative  organization 
unless  behind  these  there  is  a  deeply  implanted  sentiment 
in  their  behalf.  To  illustrate,  the  conditions  of  success  in 
stock  raising  on  the  public  domain  may  be  cited,  where 
organized  law  and  order  are  at  the  minimum.  The 
vital  condition  of  life  on  these  vast  tracts  is  the  owner- 
ship of  a  horse.  No  man  can  conduct  the  stock  business 
or  even  live  on  these  vast  stretches  without  a  horse. 
Horse  stealing  is  therefore  recognized  by  the  community 
as  a  crime  against  society  and  punishment  is  swift  and 
sure.  Every  man  in  the  community  is  aroused  to  effective 
indignation  by  reports  of  stolen  horses. 

In  an  agricultural  community  dependent  upon  irri- 
gation, the  protection  of  the  use  of  the  water  is  equally 
vital  and  the  stealing  of  water  undermines  the  whole 
social  fabric.  In  old,  settled  communities,  where  irri- 
gation has  been  practiced  for  generations,  any  theft  of 
water  or  interference  with  established  codes,  even  though 
unwritten,  is  punished,  the  whole  public  sentiment  being 
against  the  water  thief.  It  is  this  which  insures  the 
continuance  of  life,  and  prosperity  of  the  community, 
and  failure  to  punish  the  water  thief  would  undermine 
the  very  foundations  of  the  social  structure. 

In  new  communities  in  irrigated  regions  of  the  western 
part  of  the  United  States  the  individuals  have  come 
from  all  parts  of  the  country,  few  have  irrigated  in  pre- 
vious years,  and  there  has  not  been  developed  that 
abhorrence  of  water  stealing  and  of  violation  of  regu- 
lations designed  to  protect  the  water  users.  There 
exists  more  or  less  indifference  on  this  point,  and  in 
fact  a  tendency  to  condone  thefts  of  water  from  the 


CONCLUSIONS 

system  built  by  large  corporations  or  by  the  Government 
—as  it  is  a  case  of  the  poor  man  taking  from  the  rich. 
The  laws  safeguarding  the  public  use  of  water  are  fre- 
quently defective  and  public  sentiment  has  not  yet 
been  educated  to  require  strict  enforcement  even  of  the 
laws  which  are  on  the  statute  books.  The  water  hog 
and  the  water  thief  frequently  go  unpunished,  especially 
if  they  are  men  of  aggressive  personality,  accustomed 
to  taking  from  the  public  domain  whatever  they  may 
desire. 

This  attitude  of  indifference  to  the  observations  of 
the  rules  and  regulations  which  have  been  found  vital 
in  older  irrigated  areas  makes  the  problem  of  proper 
control  of  the  works  extremely  difficult  and  adds  to 
the  dangers  of  transfer  of  this  control  to  the  entire 
body  of  water  users.  Without  a  strong  central  authority 
no  one  is  willing  to  come  forward  to  advocate  the  pun- 
ishment of  the  influential  neighbor  even  if  he  is  a  notori- 
ous water  thief.  The  whole  system  falls  into  confusion 
until  through  the  accumulated  losses  the  community 
is  awakened  to  its  dangers. 

Too  Much  Land. — As  has  been  said  before,  one  of  the 
principal  causes  of  the  unfavorable  conditions  of  irri- 
gation systems  and  of  the  difficulty  of  turning  over 
the  control  and  the  responsibility  to  the  water  users, 
grows  out  of  the  fact  that  the  average  man  is  holding 
too  much  irrigated  land  for  his  own  good  or  for  that 
of  the  entire  community.  During  the  first  two  years 
at  least  after  settlement,  the  average  farmer  has  nearly 
double  the  area  of  land  which  he  can  successfully  subdue 
and  cultivate.  The  tendency  on  the  part  of  every 
newcomer  is  to  acquire  all  of  the  land  possible.  His 
impression  is  that  the  land  prices  will  advance,  and  that 

293 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

he  should  share  in  the  general  prosperity  by  getting 
control  of  as  large  an  area  as  possible  with  a  view 
ultimately  of  selling.  In  this  he  is  usually  disappointed. 
The  prices  are  apt  to  decline  after  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  boom  days  of  settlement  rather  than  to  advance. 
The  majority  of  irrigators  throughout  the  West  have 
more  land  than  they  can  successfully  use  and  have 
purchased  this  or  carried  it  for  so  many  years  that  the 
loss  to  them  is  usually  larger  than  can  be  realized. 
There  are,  of  course,  many  notable  exceptions  to  this 
rule,  but  this  is  apt  to  be  the  prevailing  condition. 

The  desire  of  the  typical  American  is  to  own  all  of 
the  land  which  borders  on  his  farm.  The  irrigator  is 
no  exception  and  if  opportunity  is  given  to  the  new- 
comer he  will  generally  pay  down  his  last  dollar  on  a 
first  installment  of  an  irrigated  tract,  securing  thus  an 
area  twice  or  three  times  as  large  as  he  can  handle. 
Many  of  these  men  must  be  brought  to  realize  that  they 
are  not  only  crippling  the  entire  community,  but  ulti- 
mately ruining  themselves,  by  the  effort  to  hold  these 
large  areas  and  to  pay  taxes  and  water  rates  on  them. 
They  should  be  induced,  as  far  as  possible,  to  let  go  the 
excess  land  even  at  a  sacrifice,  and  permit  others  to 
come  in.  By  the  increased  number,  due  to  the  low 
prices  of  land  and  its  subdivision,  there  will  be  a  gradual 
increase  of  prosperity  and  of  true  land  values  based 
not  upon  the  speculative  or  future  profits  but  on  the 
actual  crop  production. 

With  the  gradual  development  of  the  country,  the 
subdivision  and  sa'e  of  excess  lands,  and  with  the  at- 
tention of  the  individual  irrigator  confined  to  a  relatively 
small  area,  it  is  possible  to  produce  better  crops.  By 
preserving  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  by  adding  suitable 

294 


CONCLUSIONS 

fertilizer,  the  farmer  ceases  to  be  what  has  been  termed 
a  "  sapper  "  of  the  soil  and  enters  upon  an  era  of  pros- 
perity for  himself  and  his  fellows. 

Better  Markets. — With  subdivision  of  the  land,  with 
specialization  in  agriculture,  and  with  growing  co- 
operative efforts,  it  becomes  possible  to  establish  better 
markets  and  to  obtain  better  prices  for  the  products 
of  the  irrigated  area.  Irrigation  is  a  business  as  well  as 
an  art  and  the  successful  irrigator  must  first  of  all  be  a 
business  man.  He  follows  his  vocation  primarily  for  the 
money  he  can  make  and  like  other  business  men  should 
endeavor  to  get  the  greatest  possible  returns  for  the 
money  and  labor  involved.  It  is  not  enough  simply 
to  grow  crops;  they  must  be  so  produced  as  to  yield  a 
good  profit  on  the  capital  invested.  To  yield  this  profit 
they  must  be  handled  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  placed  upon 
the  best  market  at  the  time  when  the  best  price  can  be 
had. 

It  thus  follows,  that  to  succeed,  the  farmer  must  be 
acquainted  with  every  detail  of  the  occupation,  both  of 
raising  and  of  marketing  the  crops,  and  must  strive  to 
prevent  all  leaks  and  needless  waste.  At  the  same  time 
he  must  bear  in  mind  that  it  is  a  good  business  principle 
to  spend  a  dollar  whenever  he  sees  that  it  will  come 
back  to  him  with  interest,  whether  this  be  in  fertilizing 
his  fields,  in  improving  his  crops,  or  in  securing  better 
market  facilities. 

Before  the  days  of  good  transportation  facilities  each 
farming  community  could  control  its  general  business 
by  the  application  of  simple  systems  of  exchange,  sale 
and  purchase.  With  the  advent  of  good  transportation 
facilities,  however,  no  agricultural  community  can  be 
independent  of  any  other  or  even  of  the  world  in  general. 

295 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

Prices  for  farm  products  are  fixed  by  the  prices  set  in 
large  business  centers.  The  markets  open  to  the  irri- 
gator  are  also  open  to  invasion  by  farmers  from  other 
sections  who  can  produce  the  same  products  perhaps 
more  cheaply  and  even  better  in  quality. 

Because  our  farmers  have  in  the  past  failed  to  be  ideal 
business  men,  there  has  sprung  up  in  this  country  a  class 
called  middlemen  who  take  upon  themselves  the  busi- 
ness which  the  farmers  collectively  should  control. 
These  middlemen  have  year  by  year  taken  more  and  more 
of  the  gain  in  transfer  from  farmer  to  consumer  in 
return  for  services  rendered.  The  farmers  by  combin- 
ing their  resources  should  be  able  to  sell  and  realize 
the  full  profit  on  that  which  they  sow  and  reap. 

The  farmer  who  has  the  good  of  his  community  in  mind 
— and  this  really  means  his  personal  advancement  and 
interest — should  be  willing  to  join  his  fellows  in  securing 
the  best  possible  market,  and  thus  follow  the  experi- 
ence of  every  other  trade  or  industry  in  finding  strength 
and  profit  in  union. 

Rural  Credit. — Every  farmer  and  irrigator  at  one  time 
or  another  must  borrow  money  to  enable  him  prop- 
erly to  carry  on  his  business.  The  difficulty  of  doing 
this,  especially  in  a  new  locality,  has  added  greatly  to  the 
hardships  of  the  settlers.  Those  who  live  upon  the 
land  obtained  from  the  Government,  but  to  which  the 
title  is  not  complete — as  evidenced  by  patent — have  little 
security  to  offer.  Even  in  the  case  of  patented  land  many 
banks  or  moneyed  men  will  not  take  this  as  security. 

The  interest  rates,  even  if  money  can  be  had,  are  usually 
very  high — nominally  8  per  cent. — but  the  cost  of  renewals 
or  other  additions  frequently  brings  the  rate  up  to  10 
per  cent,  or  even  12  per  cent,  or  more.  There  are  few 

296 


CONCLUSIONS 

businesses  which  can  afford  to  pay  this  rate  of  interest 
for  any  considerable  time  and  the  irrigators  are  no 
exception.  Under  these  conditions  various  schemes 
have  been  suggested  for  obtaining  money.  The  con- 
ditions in  foreign  countries  have  been  studied  with  a 
view  to  adapting  methods  found  practicable  to  the  sit- 
uation in  the  arid  West.  There  is,  however,  a  wide 
difference  in  that  in  the  older  countries,  where  the  people 
have  lived  for  generations,  they  know  each  other  inti- 
mately and  are  thoroughly  informed  concerning  the 
peculiarities  of  every  man  and  his  family.  They  are 
thus  able  to  unite  in  using  the  unrestricted  or  unlimited 
credit  of  the  community.  In  the  newer  Western  states, 
sparsely  populated  with  people  from  all  parts  of  the  world 
and  with  more  or  less  inherited  racial  and  religious  an- 
tagonism, the  possibility  of  getting  together  to  the  extent 
at  least  of  pledging  unlimited  personal  credit  for  each 
other  is  scarcely  conceivable. 

There  are,  however,  various  systems  being  worked 
out  for  governmental  or  state  assistance,  or  for  united 
effort.  The  method  which  has  proved  most  effective  up 
to  the  present  time  is  what  may  be  called  the  "  banker- 
farmer  "  movement  where  the  bankers  or  principal 
merchants  united  in  boards  of  trade  have  appreciated 
the  importance  of  building  up  the  agricultural  prosperity 
of  the  surrounding  areas.  These  men,  individually  or 
collectively,  have,  furnished  money  or  credit  by  which 
high-grade  dairy  cattle  may  be  purchased  at  wholesale 
and  sold  to  the  farmers  on  easy  terms,  such,  for  example, 
as  repayment  each  month  of  an  amount  equal  to  half 
of  the  milk  check. 

Such  loans  are  advanced  or  made  only  to  farmers 
who  are  well  known  and  who  have  adequate  forage  and 

297 


IRRIGATION  MANAGEMENT 

equipment  for  properly  handling  a  limited  number  of 
cows,  or  for  undertaking  similar  enterprises.  The  success 
of  this  movement  is  dependent  upon  the  intimate  per- 
sonal knowledge  and  confidence  which  exists  between 
the  banker  or  business  man  lending  the  money  and 
the  farmers,  and  upon  the  willingness  of  the  man  con- 
trolling the  credit  to  use  this  at  a  fair  rate  and  for  the 
advantage  of  all  concerned,  rather  than  to  seek  to 
obtain  the  highest  rate  and  to  profit  by  the  severe  neces- 
sity of  his  client. 

In  all  these  transactions,  particularly  in  the  initiation 
of  any  such  system  of  credit,  the  irrigation  manager 
necessarily  plays  a  large  part,  in  that  his  full  knowledge 
of  the  use  of  the  water,  the  condition  of  the  farm,  and 
the  attitude  of  the  farmer  and  his  family  are  often 
decisive  in  determining  whether  credit  may  be  extended 
or  not. 

Results  under  Good  Management. — It  appears  from  the 
foregoing  that  the  irrigation  manager,  if  thoroughly 
competent  and  alive  to  his  work,  is  the  "  king-pin  " 
or  point  upon  which  turns  much  of  the  success  and 
prosperity  of  large  communities.  While  he  may  not 
be  particularly  conspicuous,  and  perhaps  if  most  suc- 
cessful will  not  be  so,  yet  the  careful  observer  sees  that 
it  is  through  his  influence  and  through  the  pace  which 
he  sets  that  there  results  not  merely  the  efficiency  and 
economy  of  his  employees,  of  the  watermasters,  canal- 
riders,  and  others  under  him,  but  also  that  his  influence 
is  far-reaching  throughout  the  entire  community.  He 
can  make  or  unmake  its  prosperity  and  that  without 
the  cause  being  noticeable  on  the  surface. 

The  ideal  manager  has  been  defined  as  a  man  of 
inflexible  integrity,  sober,  truthful,  active,  resolute,  dis- 

298 


CONCLUSIONS 

creet;  of  cool  and  sound  judgment,  with  command  of 
his  temper;  with  courage  to  resist  and  repel  attempts  at 
intimidation;  and  possessing  a  firmness  that  is  proof 
against  solicitation,  flattery,  or  improper  bias  of  any 
kind.  He  is  a  man  who  takes  an  interest  in  his  work; 
is  energetic,  quick  to  decide,  prompt  to  act,  fair  and 
impartial  as  a  judge  on  the  bench;  experienced  in  his 
work  and  in  dealing  with  men,  such  as  comes  from 
maturity  of  years,  business  habits,  and  knowledge  of 
accounts.  Men  who  combine  these  qualities  are  not 
to  be  picked  up  every  day.  Still  they  can  be  found. 
They  are  greatly  in  demand,  and  when  found  they  are 
worth  their  price,  or  rather  they  are  beyond  price  and  their 
value  cannot  be  estimated  in  dollars.1  The  results  which 
flow  from  activities  of  men  of  this  kind  are  beyond 
measure,  not  merely  in  the  financial  sense,  but  in  the 
still  higher  qualities  which  lead  to  the  growth  and  devel- 
opment of  strong  and  healthy  communities  and  which 
mold  and  bring  forward  the  men  and  women  of  high 
character  who  are  the  strength  of  the  nation. 

1  See  Chief  Engineer  Sterling's  Report  to  the  Mississippi  Levees 
Commissioners. 


r 


INDEX 


Account  numbers,  172 
Accumulation  of  charges,  202 
Acequia,  14 
Acre-foot,  defined,  69 
Acts,  Carey,  53 

Desert  Land,  52 

Reclamation,  55 
Advantages  of  irrigation,  1 
Advertising,  32 
Agricultural  management,  11 
Agriculture,  U.S  .  Department 

of,  259 

Alfalfa,  water  required  for,  242 
Alkali,  133 

Alkali  action  in  concrete,  163 
Apples,  Hood  River,  Ore.,  264 
Applications  for  water,  87,  103 
Arizona,  19 
Associations,  water  users',  218 


Bear  River  Canal,  Utah,  162 
Belle    Fourche    project,    So. 

Dak.,  164 
Beneficial  use,  49 
Better  crops,  290 
Betterments,  144,  169,  186 
Book,"  "Use,  103 


California,  48 

subirrigation  in,  254 

underground  waters  in,  236 
Canal  records,  102 
Canal  riders,  65,  69 
Canal  riders'  records,  109 
Canals,  67 

bank  protection  of,  156 

cleaning  of,  146 

community,  97 

lining  for,  121,  124 

losses  from,  119 

repairs  to,  145 

vegetation  on  banks  of,  159 
Capital,  need  of,  36,  191 
Carey  Act,  53 

charges  under  the,  176 
Carriage,  items  of,  167 
Carrying  charges,  197 
Cattle  on  farms,  278 
Cement  gun,  122 
Cement  lining,  121 
Census,  water  users',  282 
Charges,  accumulation  of,  202 

collection  of,  201 

proportional,  198 
Checking  records,  113 
Cippoletti  weir,  100 


301 


INDEX 


Classifying  expenditures,  166 
Cleaning  canals,  146 
Clerical  management,  11 
Climate,  20 

Colorado,  courts  of,  185 
Common  law,  47 
Community  system,  93 
Comparison  of  systems,  27 
Complaints,  8,  9,  71 

investigation  of,  230 
Concrete,  alkali  action  on,  163 
Continuous  flow,  79 
Control,  transfer  of,  289 
Co-operation  with  water  users, 

13 

Correspondence  courses,  12,  69 
Cory,  H.  T.,  174,  183 
Costs,  in  general,  175 

public  or  private,  180 

repayment  of,  190 
Cotton,  Egyptian,  274 
Courses  of  instruction,  1 1 
Courtesy,  8,  44 
Credit,  rural,  296 
Crops,  deterioration  of,  265 

irrigation  of,  value  of,  259 

profits  of,  263 

results  of,  261 

specialization  of,  264 

statistics  of,  70 

study  of,  259 

yield  of,  285 
Crop  reports,  279 
Cromer,  Lord,  180 
Cultivation,  requirements  for, 
56 


Damages,  184,  186 
Davis,  Arthur  P.,  v 
Decrease  in  fertility,  127 
Delivery  on  demand,  80 
Definitions,  142 
Demonstration  farms,  268 
Depreciation,    169,    186,    189, 

204 

Development,  167 
Desagua,  14 
Desert  Land  Act,  52 
Difficulties,  21 
Disappointments,  33 
Diseases,  obscure,  129] 
Disillusionment,   the  new- 
comer's, 228 
Distribution,  168 

by  community,  39,  93 
District  laws,  291 
Ditch,  defined,  14 
Ditch-riders,  13 
Drainage,  protection  from,  168 
Drains,  25,  136 

keeping  water  out  of,  139 


Early  pioneers,  31 
Early  trials,  2 
Economical  use,  50 
Economy,  12 
Education,  232 
Efficiency,  12 

and  economy,  102,  174 
Egypt,  26,  129,  130,  131 
Employment  of  farmers,  147 
Encouragement  of  new  men,  41 


302 


INDEX 


Encroachment  upon  canal,  71       Gallon,  defined,  15 


Environment,  19 
Experience,  lack  of,  35 
Experimental  farm,  266 
Experts,  agricultural,  270 


Failure  of  irrigators,  3 
Farm,  cattle  on,  278 

experimental,  266 

homes  on,  214 

laborers  on,  225 

management  of,  222 
Farm  boxes  and  gates,  91 
Farm  units,  59 
Farmers,  employment  of,  147 

notices  to,  114 

selection  of,  32 
Fertility,  decrease  of,  127 
Fertilization,  neglect  of,  130 
Fertilizers,  26,  130,  275,  278 
Fields,  preparation  of,  89 
Financial  reports,  286 
First  payments,  33,  59,  193 
Fitch,  C.  H.,  162 
Flood  protection,  168 
Florida,  subirrigation  in,  254 
Food,  wasting  plant,  127 
Forty-acre  farm,  192,  212 
Foster,  L.  E.,  248 
Fresno  scraper,  244 
Friction,  44,  71,  77 
Fund,  sinking,  189 
Fundamentals,  47 
Furrow  irrigation,  242 


Gate-tender,  66 

General  knowledge,  impor- 
tance of,  46 

Grand  Junction,  Colo.,  peaches 
in,  264 

Grass,  Johnson,  161 

Gravity  and  pumped  sup- 
plies, 27 

Greeley,  Col.,  irrigation  in, 
264 

Griffin,  A.,  239,  246 

Ground  water,  83 


Head,  irrigation,  91 
Hanna,  T.  W.,  v 
Hilgard,  Prof.  E.  W.,  55 
Holton,  A.  J.,  162 
Home  of  farmer,  214 
Homestead  Act,  55 
Horses  and  equipment,  72 
Human  element,  4,  11,  31 
Huntley  project,  Mont.,  88 
Hydrographers,  101,  113 


Idaho,  67 

community  system  in,  95 
Ideal  system,  94 
Incompetents,  36,  37 
Information,  diffusing  of,  42 
Inspector,  66,  115 
Inventory,  yearly  business,  225 
Investigations  of  U.  S.  R.  S., 
164 


303 


INDEX 


Irrigation,  Egyptian,  277 

far  end,  74,  84,  95,  104 

late  fall,  257-8 

systems  of,  financial  credit, 

281-6 
Irrigation   head,  size   of,   89, 

245-9 
Irrigator,  individual,  42 

success  of,  208 


Johnson  Grass,  161 


Kitchener,  Lord,  130 


Labor  conditions,  148-9 
Lands,  leveling  of,  35,  95,  243 

more,  than  water,  110 

preparation  of,  133 

too  much,  293-5 
Land  poverty,  210-13 
Laterals,  operating  of,  93 
Legal  aspect,  46 
Leveling  of  land,  35,  95,  243 
Location  of  land,  29 
Locking  gates,  92 
Losses,  prevention  of,  119 
Lower  users,  74,  84,  95,  104 
Loyalty  to  service,  9 


Maintenance,  141 
Management,  as  a  profession,  6 
results  of  good,  298-9 


Manager,  definition  of,  14,  64 

duties  of,  73 
Markets,  better,  295 
Measuring  to  fields,  251 

boxes,  100 

devices,  99 

Million  gallons,  defined,  15 
Modesto    Irrigation    District, 

CaL,  98,  239 
Montana,  19,  63 
Monthly  water  statements, 

115 

Moritz,  E.  A.,  121 
Moss  in  canal,  162 
Murphy,  D.  W.,  v 


Nebraska,  151 
Neighborhood  spirit,  124 
Newell,  H.  D.,  124 
Nile,  waters  of,  26,  131,  276 
Nitrogen,  25 

North   Platte   project,    Neb., 
85,  151 


Office  compilation,  112 
Operating  force,  66 
Operation    and    maintenance, 

170 

Operation  methods,  79 
Operation  organization,  63 
Ordinary  supply,  26 
Oregon,  124 
Organization,    co-operation, 

215,  221 


S04i 


INDEX 


Panama,  Canal,  slides  of,  156 
Patrolman,  66 
Payment,  time  of,  203 
Pecos  River,  N.  Mex.,  247 
Penetration  by  water,  126 
Pests,  combating,  159 
Physical  conditions,  19 
Pioneers,  31,  97 
Population,  shifting  of,  37 
Posters,  irrigation,  233 
Potatoes,  Greeley,  Col.,  264 
Prepayment  and  water  econ- 
omy, 195 

Products  of  irrigation,  259 
Professional  pioneers,  32 
Promoters,  4 
Protection  flood,  168 

of  sandy  banks,  151 
Psychology,  22 
Pumping,  140 


Qualifications  of  canal-riders, 
65,69 


Rain    and    snowfall    observa- 
tions, 21 
Receipts,  190 
Reclamation  Act,  291 
Records  and  schedules,  162 
Records,  checking  of,  113 

of  deliveries,  62,  104,  107 

watermaster's,  114 
Rental  charges,  197 
Reports,  inspection  of,  115 


Requirements,  general,  63 

residence,  57 
Rights  of  way,  51 
Riparian  rights,  48 
Riverside,  Cal.,  123 
Robbing  the  soil,  124 
Rocky    Ford.,   Col.,    melons, 

264 

Roosevelt,  T.  R.,  4 
Roosevelt  Dam,  4 
Rotation,  84 


Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  49 
Salt  River  project,  Ariz.,  4,  19 
Sandy   banks,    protection    of, 

154 

Schedules,  daily,  107 
Second-foot,  defined,  69 
Self-help,  6 
Service,  defined,  8,  14 
Settlement,  time  needed  for,  34 
Sheeping,  160 

Shoshone  project,  Wyo.,  137 
Sinking  fund,  189 
Size  of  farm  units,  59 
Slides,  canal,  156 
Social  conscience,  arousing  of, 

291 

Soil  fertility,  24-6 
Soil  sappers,  264 
Soils,  agricultural,  134 
Southwest,  building  homes  in, 

215 

Spillman,  W.  J.,  222 
Stealing  water,  60,  71,  96 


305 


INDEX 


Stevens,  J.  C.,  24 
Structural  restrictions,  27 
Structure,  repairs  of,  149 

replacement  of  concrete,  150 
Subirrigation,  253 
Success,  elements  of,  5 
Sunny  side  project,  Wash.,  67, 

164 

Superintendent,  65 
Swamping,  128 


Tact,  69,  75 

Telephone  system,  73 

Terms,  use  of,  13 

Time  saved  in  irrigating,  248 

Trained  men,  need  of,  9 

Thistles,  Russian,  154 


Umatilla  project,  Ore.,  124 
United     States     Reclamation 

Service,  161,  281 
Units,  15 

Unlawful  diversion  of  water,  60 
"Use  Book,"  v,  101,  103 

Valuation,  204,  207 
Vegetation  on  canal  banks,  159 


Washington,  state  of,  67 
Waste  water,  256,  259 
Wasteways,  135,  167 
Water,  application  for,  105 
continuous  flow,  79 


Water,  control  of,  103 
delivery  of,  79,  104,  108 
distributing,  39 
economy  of,  118 
flooding,  238 
measuring,  249,  253 
methods  of  applying,  236 
monthly  statements  of,  115 
penetration  of,  126 
requests  for,  85,  107 
unlawful  diversion  of,  60 
waste  of,  124,  256,  259 

Water  waste,  65 

Water  report,  daily,  111 

Water  rights,  47 

Water  supply,  20,  26 

Water  user,  relation  with,  77 

Water  Users'  Census,  282,  284 

Weather  records,  22 

Weir,  Cippoletti,  100 

Weir  tables,  100 

Weirs,  use  of,  69 

Weiss,  Andrew,  151 

Willcocks,   Sir   William,    130, 
277 

Winter  friendship,  45,  105 

Work  orders,  181,  184 

Written  requests,  70,  107 

Wyoming,  138 


Yield  with  less  water,  250 
Yuma  Project,  Ariz.,  244 


Zanjero,  14 


306 


(1) 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA   LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

Books  not  returned  on  time  are  subject  to  a  fine  of 
50c  per  volume  after  the  third  day  overdue,  increasing 
to  $1.00  per  volume  after  the  sixth  day.  Books  not  in 
demand  may  be  renewed  if  application  is  made  before 
expiration  of  loan  period. 


9161  81  03d 
JUl  22  1919 


FW  T         5 

JAN  4  "  1955  t) 


«  9  2  H955  L1 


50m-7.'16 


YB   10959 


35WOO 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


